The Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism (2018)

Seely, D., A.L. Bowman, N. Cho, and M.F. Horstemeyer. 2018. Finite element analysis of large body deformation induced by a catastrophic near impact event. 2018. In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Creationism , ed. J.H. Whitmore, pp. 52–70. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Creation Science Fellowship. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF LARGE BODY DEFORMATION INDUCED BY A CATASTROPHIC NEAR IMPACT EVENT Denver Seely , Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762, denver@ cavs.msstate.edu Andrew L. Bowman , Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems & Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi 39762, alb494@msstate.edu Noah Cho , Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems & Department of Computational Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762, HeechenECho@gmail.com Mark F. Horstemeyer , Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems & Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Computational Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi 39762, mfhorst@me.msstate.edu ABSTRACT Finite element simulations of near impacts of terrestrial bodies are presented to investigate possible deformation behavior induced by a massive body during the creation week and/or Genesis Flood. Using the universal law of gravitation, a gravitationally loaded objected is subjected to the ‘pull’ of a near passing fly-by object, and the resulting surface deformations are studied. An Internal State Variable (ISV) pressure dependent plasticity model for silicate rocks (Cho et al ., 2018) is used to model the deformation behavior and to capture the history effects involved during the complex surface loading/unloading found in a near impact event. The model is used to simulate the earth and a “fly-by” object interaction and is able to accurately reproduce the internal pressure profiles of the earth and fly-by object. In this context, the fly-by object can be the original Moon, a meteor, or another type of large object that has moved through space to interact with the Earth. Due to the wide range of features that can drive surface deformations during a near impact event, a Design Of Experiments (DOE) methodology was used to independently investigate the influences of five parameters (stationary body size, core material, core/mantle thickness ratio, passing object mass, and passing object distance) concerning surface deformation. The results indicate that the passing body distance, stationary body size, and core/mantle ratio are the most dominant influence parameters on surface deformation. Examination of the ISV parameters of the mantle during deformation shows a complex relationship between the hardening and recovery terms of the model and the resulting plastic strain and surface deformation induced from the near pass event. Surface rise from the near passage of a Moon sized object could be as high as 800 m, in turn causing large tsunamis and possibly causing the Earth’s crust to crack. For this first of its kind study, the conclusions provide understanding of the possible ranges of deformations observed from a near pass event and provides insights into possible catastrophic deformation mechanisms relevant to the young Earth paradigm. KEY WORDS near impact, Finite Element Analysis, Internal State Variable Model, Genesis Flood Copyright 2018 Creation Science Fellowship, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA www.creationicc.org 52 INTRODUCTION With the recent exploration of the outer edge of our Solar System, a flurry of questions regarding planetary formation, heavy bombardment, Kuiper Belt objects, lunar formation and capture theories, and Solar System arrangement have been postulated within the secular research community. Thus, the proposed answers to these questions are entangled with Uniformitarian principles requiring millions or billions of years to explain the various phenomenon seen throughout the Solar System. From a Young Earth Creationist (YEC) standpoint, many of these phenomenon can only be explained from catastrophic processes occurring over relatively short time scales compared to those considered from the deep time uniformitarian perspective. The large evidences of Solar System wide cratering suggest that a Solar System wide catastrophe occurred, possibly related to the curse placed on the entirety of creation due toAdam’s fall (Romans 8:20-22), extending to the Earth’s catastrophic global flood, and extending further to future catastrophic events described during the final judgment (Revelation 8:8). Models involving phenomenon on the planetary and solar system scales have traditionally fallen in two categories: impact event (Agnor et al. 1999; Quintana et al. 2016; Rickman et al. 2017) and rigid body dynamics (Nesvorný 2011; Pires et al. 2015). Impact studies assume all or most of the mass and energy are absorbed into the larger body. Studies on moving or orbiting bodies assume that all of the energy is conserved with the dynamics of motion and energy dissipation occurs through body deformation while plastic heating is not considered. Hence, there exists an intermediary between the two categories that has been explored very little; the near passage of n-bodies and the dissipative forces resulting from body deformation, body separation, or gravitational capture. The deformations potentially caused by near pass events has the potential to account for numerous phenomenon found throughout