Context. Until recently, camera networks designed for monitoring fireballs worldwide were not fully automated, implying that in case of a meteorite fall, the recovery campaign was rarely immediate. This was an important limiting factor as the most fragile – hence precious – meteorites must be recovered rapidly to avoid their alteration. Aims. The Fireball Recovery and InterPlanetary Observation Network (FRIPON) scientific project was designed to overcome this limitation. This network comprises a fully automated camera and radio network deployed over a significant fraction of western Europe and a small fraction of Canada. As of today, it consists of 150 cameras and 25 European radio receivers and covers an area of about 1.5 × 106 km2. Methods. The FRIPON network, fully operational since 2018, has been monitoring meteoroid entries since 2016, thereby allowing the characterization of their dynamical and physical properties. In addition, the level of automation of the network makes it possible to trigger a meteorite recovery campaign only a few hours after it reaches the surface of the Earth. Recovery campaigns are only organized for meteorites with final masses estimated of at least 500 g, which is about one event per year in France. No recovery campaign is organized in the case of smaller final masses on the order of 50 to 100 g, which happens about three times a year; instead, the information is delivered to the local media so that it can reach the inhabitants living in the vicinity of the fall. Results. Nearly 4000 meteoroids have been detected so far and characterized by FRIPON. The distribution of their orbits appears to be bimodal, with a cometary population and a main belt population. Sporadic meteors amount to about 55% of all meteors. A first estimate of the absolute meteoroid flux (mag < –5; meteoroid size ≥~1 cm) amounts to 1250/yr/106 km2. This value is compatible with previous estimates. Finally, the first meteorite was recovered in Italy (Cavezzo, January 2020) thanks to the PRISMA network, a component of the FRIPON science project.

The present article proposes a methodology for the computational analysis of damage induced in the vicinity of dents in a dry circular point contact under repeated rolling. The failure risk is evaluated through the use of the Dang Van multiaxial fatigue criterion. The dent is a typical surface defect encountered in rolling element bearings when operating in contaminated environments. It is usually created by a solid particle not removed by seals or filters when passing through an EHL conjunction. Since local plasticity occurs when the debris is first entrapped between the contacting surfaces, and later when the resulting dents are subjected to moving contact load, the elastic-plastic behavior of the material should be captured by the model. First, the dent shape and the subsurface stress and strain fields produced by the presence of a spherical particle are obtained by the finite element method. Second, the rolling of the load over the surface defect is simulated using a semi-analytical elastic-plastic code. The simulations are carried out for two different debris materials, both ductile but one significantly softer than the contacting surfaces, i.e., made of stainless steel 316L, the other one being made of bearing steel AISI 52100 similar to the contacting surfaces. The dent shape and initial stress and strain states are first presented. Subsequent stress and strain states after a few rolling cycles are then presented. Finally the effects of the coefficient of friction, presence of residual stress, and contact load magnitude are highlighted.

A three-dimensional numerical model based on a semianalytical method in the framework of small strains and small displacements is presented for solving an elastic-plastic contact with surface traction. A Coulomb’s law is assumed for the friction, as commonly used for sliding contacts. The effects of the contact pressure distribution and residual strain on the geometry of the contacting surfaces are derived from Betti’s reciprocal theorem with initial strain. The main advantage of this approach over the classical finite element method (FEM) is the computing time, which is reduced by several orders of magnitude. The contact problem, which is one of the most time-consuming procedures in the elastic-plastic algorithm, is obtained using a method based on the variational principle and accelerated by means of the discrete convolution fast Fourier transform (FFT) and conjugate gradient methods. The FFT technique is also involved in the calculation of internal strains and stresses. A return-mapping algorithm with an elastic predictor∕plastic corrector scheme and a von Mises criterion is used in the plasticity loop. The model is first validated by comparison with results obtained by the FEM. The effect of the friction coefficient on the contact pressure distribution, subsurface stress field, and residual strains is also presented and discussed.