TIDAL DISRUPTION OF SOLID BODIES

This paper introduces three new considerations to the venerable problem of stress, strain, and breakup in solid satellites and stray bodies subject to tidal perturbations. A novel treatment of compressible bodies indicates that compressibility alters the stresses by several percent, more than the neglect of "Love number" or higher-order tides in most cases. Realistic failure criteria imply that stony objects generally fail by tensile fracture, but that icy bodies may fail by either tensile or shear fracture. The question of crack propagation is reexamined, and breakup criteria are given according to the size, strength, and composition of the object. © 1990.