Experimental simulation of tensile behavior of lunar soil simulant JSC-1

The return of humans to the Moon, which includes construction and infrastructure development remain a national priority for exploration of space. Thus, a thorough understanding of lunar soil properties for purposes of engineering design is required. In the past lunar soil (regolith) simulant JSC-1 has been widely used by investigators in feasibility studies to device preliminary concepts, where basic strength, compaction and stiffness behavior are of importance. While the tensile strength of granular soils is customarily assumed to be insignificant or zero in terrestrial engineering design, tensile strength behavior may be of greater importance in lunar construction. Experimental studies have shown that the tensile strength of regolith, specifically JSC-1 is substantial and reliable techniques for assessing behavior are needed. A direct tension device was recently developed to determine tensile strength properties of granular soils for a wide range of packing densities, and experiments were conducted on JSC-1 to determine ranges of tensile strength. The specimens were prepared by a miniature compaction technique. This paper presents tensile strength results for JSC-1, which may be of importance for future infrastructure designs and development of in situ resource utilization on the Moon.