Theoretical and discrete element simulation studies of aircraft landing impact

A soft landing directly influences the safety of devices and the follow-on work of a lander. Therefore, research on the interaction between the lander and the lunar regolith is of great significance. Different from the regular test experiments and finite element simulation, the landing impact is studied in a manner that combines a theoretical method and a discrete element simulation based on EDEM, which is more suitable for the simulation of the discrete particles due to the discontinuous properties of lunar regolith. Based on the properties of the lunar regolith and discrete element theory, this paper establishes the theoretical model and the discrete element model of the interaction between the lander and the lunar regolith. The influence of the lander structure and the lunar terrain on this interaction is analyzed through contrastive analysis of different work conditions.