Cohesive Strength Tests of Lunar Regolith Simulants During Storage and Flow
摘要
The lunar regolith as the main raw material on the lunar surface will be used in various technological and construction operations, such as building habitats, landing pads, producing rocket fuel, and extracting valuable elements. One of these operations will be conveyor transport and storage in bins and hoppers. An understanding of the flow properties of lunar regolith is essential for the design of conveyor and storage devices, e.g. to avoid flow stoppages due to arching and ratholing typical of fine-grained and dusty materials. This paper presents measurements of the cohesive strength of lunar regolith simulants for both continuous flow and storage according to ASTM 6128 using the Jenike shear cell. As a result of the measurements, values of cohesion, angle of internal friction, and flow function were obtained.