The study of the drilling core features of a multi-pipe deep lunar soil sampling driller for manned lunar exploration based on the discrete element technology

Lunar soil sampling is important for human beings to know about the components of lunar soil and the lunar geological structure. By now, lunar soil between the depths 0 and 3 meters is researched, but there are not any drillers which can collect the much deeper lunar soil. In this paper, a multi-pipe driller that can drill 5 meters deep for manned lunar exploration was proposed. In order to verify the reliability of drilling core, the drilling core features of the driller were studied by using the EDEM software. The influences of drill pipes rotation speed and feed rate to the drilling core were studied. The results turned out that the feed rate had a significant influence on the drilling core features and the rotation speed had an important influence on the power and the torque. The simulation results can provide guidance for the optimization of the system structure and the technical supports to China´s deep lunar soil sampling project.