Preparation and characterization of a specialized lunar regolith simulant for use in lunar low gravity simulation

Lunar in-situ resource utilization(ISRU)has been put on the agenda by many countries.Due to the special material nature and low gravity environment,the lunar regolith demonstrates significantly different behavior from terrestrial geomaterials.However,the systematic understanding of its geotechnical behavior is now seriously restricted by the scarcity of lunar regolith and the difficulty in simulating lunar gravity.A new lunar regolith simulant,termed as China University of Mining and Technology Number One(CUMT-1),has been developed to recover properties of the lunar regolith and simulate the lunar gravity by adopting the recently advanced geotechnical magnetic-similitude-gravity model testing(GMMT)method.The CUMT-1 simulant was prepared by reproducing the in-situ formation and fragmentation of the lunar matrix,which plays a key role in the irregular particle morphology.The mineralogical compositions,particle morphology and gradation,specific gravity,bulk density,void ratio,shear strength,and compressibility were determined.After quantifying the magnetization and magnetic-similitude-gravity characteristics,an application of the cone penetration resistance under low gravity was further given.The obtained results are compared to the values known for lunar regolith samples and other simulants,which demonstrates promising characteristics for use in geotechnical engineering-based and scientificbased applications,especially considering the influence of lunar gravity.

Bearing capacity of surface circular footings on granular material under low gravity fields

Low gravity fields have been simulated through magnetic acceleration to conduct experimental study on bearing capacity of circular footings on a type of crushable planetary regolith simulant,which has comparable density and particle size distribution of lunar soil.The loadesettlement responses of surface spread footings are obtained by investigating the relative density,footing size and gravity effects.Applying the hyperbolic asymptote method,normalised foundation stiffness and ultimate bearing capacity are obtained by curve fitting and predicted by power functions using multivariate nonlinear regression.The results show that the nonlinear gravity effect is not negligible,related to stress condition,soil dilatancy and mobilised friction angle.A cone penetration test(CPT)-based method for prediction of bearing capacity is proposed with correlations between ultimate bearing capacity of footings and shallow penetration stiffness of CPTs,avoiding the uncertainties of soil property estimations.Analyses of allowable bearing capacity and footing influence zone in consideration of footing size and gravity effects could therefore improve the design of shallow foundations on the Moon and Mars,and provide new understandings and potential implications to the bearing capacity of shallow foundations on crushable granular material in both terrestrial and extraterrestrial geotechnical engineering.

DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF LIQUID FORCED SLOSHING IN A TURNING SPHERICAL TANK WITH A SPACER UNDER LOW GRAVITY

Under the condition of low gravity the characteristics of liquid forced sloshing in a turning spherical tank with a spacer were investigated. The static shape of the liquid surface was analyzed. By expanding the characteristic functions, the frequencies and velocity potential of liquid free-sloshing were derived. The governing equations and boundary conditions for the forced sloshing of liquid under the tank turning were established. The transverse force of liquid acting on the tank and the moment of force to the centre of the tank which is caused by the force of liquid acting on the spacer were given. Numerical results were compared with the ones of the spherical tank without a spacer. The results show that when a spacer is inserted in the tank, the sloshing frequency of liquid and the transverse force of liquid acting on the tank will decrease, but the moment of force to the centre of the tank which is caused by the force of liquid acting on the spacer will occur.

DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF LIQUID SLOSHING IN A TRANSVERSELY VIBRATING SPHERICAL TANK WITH A SPACER UNDER LOW GRAVITY

The dynamic characteristics of liquid sloshing in a transversely vibrating spherical tank with spacer under low gravity were investigated. By expanding the characteristic functions, the frequencies and velocity potentials of liquid free-sloshing were obtained. The dynamic equations and boundary conditions of liquid sloshing in the traverse vibrational spherical tank with spacer under low gravity were derived. By modifying the velocity potentials of liquid free-sloshing, the velocity potentials of liquid sloshing in the traverse vibrating spherical tank with a spacer were obtained. Furthermore, the forces and the moments acting on tank wall were given. The numerical results show when a spacer is inserted in the tank, the sloshing frequencies of liquid and the forces acting on tank wall will decrease, but the moment of force to the centre of the tank which is caused by the force of liquid acting on the spacer will occur.

THE EQUIVALENT MECHANICAL MODELS OF LIQUID SLOSHING IN A SPHERICAL TANK WITH SPACER UNDER LOW GRAVITY

The dynamics of liquid sloshing in a spherical tank with spacer under low gravity was investigated. By extending the characteristic functions, the frequencies of liquid free sloshing, reaction force and moments on the wall of tank were obtained. By mechanical equivalent principle, the equivalent models of spring vibrator damper of liquid sloshing were given. The numerical results obtained show when a spacer is inserted in the tank, the sloshing frequency of liquid and the sloshing mass of liquid will decrease.

DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF LIQUID SLOSHING IN A RECTANGULAR TANK UNDER LOW GRAVITY

In this paper, the dynamics of liquid sloshing in a rectangular tank under low gravity was investigated. The basic frequencies and the velocity potentials of sloshing of liquid were obtained by expansion of the Fourier series. The characteristics of force and moment of the liquid acting on a rectangular tank were analyzed. The equivalent mechanical models of spring-vibrator-damper of sloshing of liquid were established with mechanical equivalent principle and numerical results were given. The numerical results show that the equivalent sloshing mass increases with the increase of gravity, and that the basic frequency and the equivalent sloshing mass increase with the increase of the liquid depth.

Research on End-force Output of 8-cable Driven Parallel Manipulator

The return capsule needs to be launched to the moon and return back to earth in the third stage of the Chinese lunar exploration project.Therefore,it is necessary to perform simulations on the ground.This paper presents an 8-cable-driven parallel manipulator to achieve end-force output in a low-gravity environment.End-force output refers to the vector sum of the external force on the end-effector.A model of end-force output is established based on a kinematics model,a dynamic model,and a force analysis of an 8-cable driven parallel manipulator.To obtain end-force output in a low-gravity environment,the cable force has to be controlled to counteract gravity.In addition,a force-position mix control strategy is proposed to proactively control the cable force according to the force optimal distribution given by the closed-form force distribution method.Furthermore,a suitable choice for an end-force output is obtained by modeling the effect of cable force on end-force output.Experimental results show that the actual cable force agrees well with the calculated force distribution,indicating that it is feasible to realize end-force output in a low gravity environment.