Vibratory compaction method for preparing lunar regolith drilling simulant

Abstract Drilling and coring is an effective way to acquire lunar regolith samples along the depth direction. To facilitate the modeling and simulation of lunar drilling, ground verification experiments for drilling and coring should be performed using lunar regolith simulant. The simulant should mimic actual lunar regolith, and the distribution of its mechanical properties should vary along the longitudinal direction. Furthermore, an appropriate preparation method is required to ensure that the simulant has consistent mechanical properties so that the experimental results can be repeatable. Vibratory compaction actively changes the relative density of a raw material, making it suitable for building a multilayered drilling simulant. It is necessary to determine the relation between the preparation parameters and the expected mechanical properties of the drilling simulant. A vibratory compaction model based on the ideal elastoplastic theory is built to represent the dynamical properties of the simulant during compaction. Preparation experiments indicated that the preparation method can be used to obtain drilling simulant with the desired mechanical property distribution along the depth direction.