Three dimensional simulation of lunar dust levitation under the effect of simulated sphere body

Four typical models of irregular lunar dust are built based on the particle shape. Parameters of the simulated sample are determined by dimensional analysis and simulated triaxial test. The simulation was performed by a simulated sphere body acting as the lunar explorer experiencing free fall landing on moon surface from a certain height. Tracking the movement of lunar dust, the motion characteristics and levitation distribution were statistically analyzed. The influences of the landing speed of the simulated sphere body, friction coefficient and stiffness of the particles on the levitation of the dust were also discussed. Results show that the landing speed and the friction coefficient have greater influence on the number and height of levitating particles than other factors. The number and height of levitating particles increase with landing speed. While the friction coefficient increases, the number of levitating particles increases but the levitation height decreases. The stiffness of particle also has some influence on levitation height. The larger the stiffness of particles is, the smaller the levitation height. But it has little effect on the number of levitating particles.