TOWARD MORE REALISTIC DIGITAL TWINS OF LUNAR REGOLITH

Dylan Mikesell –  Norwegian Geotech. Institute, Oslo

Digital twins are fast becoming valuable tools in many disciplines; this is true in geotechnics as well. Additionally, digital twins provide an interesting opportunity for space applications because conducting realistic physical analog tests on Earth is very difficult due to our inability to recreate the space environment. In this presentation I will give a brief overview of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and its geotechnical testing laboratory in Oslo. I will then share about our lunar regolith team’s recent efforts to build lab-scale digital twins of lunar regolith simulants, and more recently, Apollo 11 and Apollo 14 regolith return samples. I will discuss the various geotechnical tests we are conducting, as well as consider why certain tests are important and what their potential applications could be with regard to in situ resource utilization (ISRU) on the lunar surface. I will wrap up by describing the current state of our regolith digital twins, which are built from micro- and nano-X-ray CT data and incorporate various micromechanical physics using the 3D level-set discrete element method (LS-DEM).