Scale Effects of Shallow Foundations on Lunar Regolith

Dense lunar soil simulants have been shown to possess secant friction angles in excess of 50°, while exhibiting a significant decrease in the secant friction angle with increasing mean normal effective stress. These characteristics lead to questions regarding the suitability of existing conventional stability solutions used to predict lunar facility performance. The particular problem of bearing capacity has been examined by performing centrifuge model experiments using two lunar soil simulants (MLS-1 and JSC-1). Results from these experiments are presented in light of a solution approach which accounts for the scale effects due to material non-linearity and progressive failure.