Modeling and experimental investigation of drilling into lunar soils

Dry drilling only with the assistance of an auger is a reliable and realistic approach to remove abundant soils from the side of a bit in the harsh, dry conditions on the Moon. Based on an elementary analysis, using Janssen’s model to reflect the coupling effect among the different components of the stress, the present paper models the conveying dynamics along the helical groove and the sampling mechanism in the centering hole of the stem for an auger drilling into lunar soil simulant. Combining the two parts as well as a simple cutting model for the bit, a whole drilling model is established to investigate the complicated relation among the conveying ability of the auger, the coring rate, and drilling parameters such as the penetration and rotation speeds. The relation is revealed by the complicated transition between different sub-models with the help of the physical transition conditions. A series of experiments with constant penetration and rotation speeds are conducted to verify the model. Three aspects of characteristics of the drilling dynamics are manifested, (i) the loads on the bit are almost independent of penetration; (ii) three obvious drilling stages with respect to cut per revolution are grouped; (iii) a linear relationship is found between the coring rate and the revolution per penetration.