Year: 2011
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: It is known that the excavation resistance of the lunar regolith tends to be larger than that of typical terrestrial soils due to the high relative density and angular grain shapes of the lunar regolith. So it is necessary to improve the efficiency of excavation, i.e. to reduce the excavation resistance, because the available energy and the possible size for a lunar excavator will be limited especially in the initial phase of lunar development near future. In this paper, the optimal excavation conditions have been investigated when the rippers are used to loosen the regolith prior to the excavation by a wide blade like a dozer like a dozer blade. It was verified by comparison with excavation on terrestrial sand that the interlocking of grains due to highly angular grains of the lunar regolith makes ripping helpful in excavation energy reduction. Also, the effect of gravel content is studied although that has been ignored in the existing researches about lunar excavation.
Authors: Masafumi Iai, Leslie Gertsch
Institution: Missouri University of Science and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Civil and Structural Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2732636854