Fabric Simulation and Mechanical Characteristics Test and Analysis of Icy Lunar Regolith

Abstract

The remote sensing of the moon proved that water ice exists in its permanently shadowed regions，which further stimulated people's enthusiasm for the construction of lunar bases and in-situ resource utilization. However，remote sensing detection cannot obtain quantitative information about the physical and mechanical properties of icy lunar regolith，which brings challenges to the development of water ice sampling and detection and in-situ utilization. Aiming at this problem，this paper proposes a method to simulate the structure of icy lunar regolith based on "similarity，equivalence，homogeneity and coverage". Tests of shear strength and Poisson's ratio were carried out under realistic temperature environment in polar regions to obtain the influence of temperature and water content on the mechanical properties of icy regolith. At the same time，the envelope range of icy regolith shear strength and Poisson's ratio is obtained under specific conditions. The results provide an basis for designing lunar water ice in-situ submerged detection equipment.

Keywords

icy lunar regolith / fabric simulation / simulation criterion / shear strength / Poisson's ratio