A Review of Lunar Soil Mechanical Properties and Lunar Surface Mining Simulation Research

With the increasing depletion of Earth's resources, lunar resource development has become a strategic focus of global technological competition. To deeply understand the essential differences between the mechanical behavior of lunar soil and that of Earth's rock and soil materials under the multi-physical field coupling environment of low gravity, high vacuum and high temperature difference on the Moon, this paper systematically reviews the main research progress in lunar soil mechanical properties, low-gravity simulation techniques, development of lunar soil simulants, and discrete element simulations of lunar mining. This article elaborates on the influence mechanisms of particle shape, extreme environments, low-stress conditions, particle breakage, and ultra-high vacuum on the mechanical behavior of lunar soil. It also summarizes the current state of ground-based low-gravity simulation technologies and the development of lunar soil simulants. Furthermore, it analyzes the evolving trends in particle morphology modeling and contact models, while reviewing discrete element simulation studies on different mining methods and lunar soil slope failures. Then, the article summarizes the deficiencies of existing research in the acquisition of mechanical properties of lunar soil and the simulation of multi-field coupling effects, and points out that it is necessary to focus on three core directions: constructing a multi-field coupling indoor experimental system of "low gravity-high temperature difference-high vacuum". Finally, future research directions are proposed to facilitate the adaptation of terrestrial mining methods to lunar resource extraction.