TY - GEN
T1 - Structural Analysis of Sandbag Topology for Lunar Environment Utilization
AU - Xu, Yinan
AU - Muniyasamy, Sivaperuman
AU - Doe, Carlos
AU - Thangavelautham, Jekan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© ASCE.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The next milestone of space exploration to develop a structure for civilization on the Moon is approaching. To move into this next phase of lunar habitation, solutions need to be developed for a lunar infrastructure. With a limited supply of resources on the Moon, utilizing most of what is available will prove to be essential. Thus, the use of smart sandbags filled with lunar regolith will prove to be critical in constructing lunar infrastructure. Before constructing infrastructure with the sandbags, analysis must be performed to ensure structural integrity. Analysis focuses on constant and impact forces on the sandbag design to discover areas of stress failures and deformation failures. These analyses imitate the behaviors of micrometeor impacts that affect the integrity of the structures. Likewise, the sandbags must be able to withstand the load of several other regolith sandbags on top of each other. Management of load, force, and impact is crucial to the performance of the sandbag. This is to ensure that astronaut homes, research facilities, storage containers, landing pads, launch sites, and other critical components to the future lunar base are thoroughly protected from the lunar environment. The sandbag design contains three key areas of stress and deformation. The two greatest areas of stress lie on the side where force is applied on the opposite face of where the force is applied when applied from a vertical direction. When applied from a horizonal direction, only the applied side is affected. The location where deformation occurs the most is where the force is applied. These initial findings help pinpoint how best to support the sandbag for structurally loading and to improve its ability to mitigate impact. The next phase of analysis focuses on the structural integrity of infrastructure made of multiple sandbags. This next focus will also analyze different sandbag topologies and infrastructure designs that will improve the structural integrity of the lunar habitat. Work will determine what aspects of lunar construction will prove to be critical for development. Future work will also analyze the thermal integrity of the sandbags due to the heat of micrometeorites and the solar radiation experienced by the Sun.
AB - The next milestone of space exploration to develop a structure for civilization on the Moon is approaching. To move into this next phase of lunar habitation, solutions need to be developed for a lunar infrastructure. With a limited supply of resources on the Moon, utilizing most of what is available will prove to be essential. Thus, the use of smart sandbags filled with lunar regolith will prove to be critical in constructing lunar infrastructure. Before constructing infrastructure with the sandbags, analysis must be performed to ensure structural integrity. Analysis focuses on constant and impact forces on the sandbag design to discover areas of stress failures and deformation failures. These analyses imitate the behaviors of micrometeor impacts that affect the integrity of the structures. Likewise, the sandbags must be able to withstand the load of several other regolith sandbags on top of each other. Management of load, force, and impact is crucial to the performance of the sandbag. This is to ensure that astronaut homes, research facilities, storage containers, landing pads, launch sites, and other critical components to the future lunar base are thoroughly protected from the lunar environment. The sandbag design contains three key areas of stress and deformation. The two greatest areas of stress lie on the side where force is applied on the opposite face of where the force is applied when applied from a vertical direction. When applied from a horizonal direction, only the applied side is affected. The location where deformation occurs the most is where the force is applied. These initial findings help pinpoint how best to support the sandbag for structurally loading and to improve its ability to mitigate impact. The next phase of analysis focuses on the structural integrity of infrastructure made of multiple sandbags. This next focus will also analyze different sandbag topologies and infrastructure designs that will improve the structural integrity of the lunar habitat. Work will determine what aspects of lunar construction will prove to be critical for development. Future work will also analyze the thermal integrity of the sandbags due to the heat of micrometeorites and the solar radiation experienced by the Sun.
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U2 - 10.1061/9780784485736.043
DO - 10.1061/9780784485736.043
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85203692525
T3 - Earth and Space 2024: Engineering for Extreme Environments - Proceedings of the 19th Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments
SP - 463
EP - 473
BT - Earth and Space 2024
A2 - Malla, Ramesh B.
A2 - Littell, Justin D.
A2 - Krishnan, Sudarshan
A2 - Rhode-Barbarigos, Landolf
A2 - Pradhananga, Nipesh
A2 - Lee, Seung Jae
PB - American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
T2 - 19th Biennial International Conference on Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments, Earth and Space 2024
Y2 - 15 April 2024 through 18 April 2024
ER -