Simulation and analysis of the lunar rock drilling process in a complex lunar environment

Deep lunar drilling is an effective means of obtaining complete lunar profile samples and high quality exploration data, which is of great historical importance in promoting the development of China?s lunar exploration. In this work, a finite element model of moonstone is constructed and a simulation study of drilled moonstone is carried out. In addition, the Drucker-Prager model to describe the intrinsic properties of moonstone is selected, based on the Abaqus finite element software, to complete the numerical simulation of lunar rock cutting by setting different drill feed rates to study their effects on the drill rock fracturing process. The simulation results show that at constant speed, the drilling displacement increases with increasing feed rate. To avoid a drill stop, it must be ensured that the feed speed is at least above 1.6 mm per second. The simulation results show that the drilling offset increases with increasing feed rate.