ASSESSMENT OF STRESS-STRAIN STATE FOR DOME-SHELL OF LUNAR MODULE

Abstract

Problem statement. Today, the world's leading researchers are engaged in investigating the possibilities of building bases and settlements on the surface of the Moon. To ensure the protection of the crew for long-duration missions, the development of residential modules is required. An effective solution for construction on the Moon is the use of local soil (regolith) for the production of concrete and reinforcement. For today, there are already data on the physical and mechanical properties of such materials, but the studies of the performance for monolithic load-bearing structures made of them are limited. The purpose of the article is to assess the stress-strain state for dome-shells of living modules located on the surface of the Moon, taking into account the physical and mechanical characteristics of building materials from local raw materials (regolith) and environmental conditions. Conclusions. Using the membrane theory’ methods of shells and finite element modeling, data on the stress-strain state of thin-walled shell domes for the construction of lunar living modules for 8, 10, and 12 crew members were obtained. On the basis of the data obtained on internal forces, the required thickness and reinforcement area for the module’ shell were determined. A comparative analysis of the results of determining the internal forces and the structural parameters for the dome-shells considered was carried out. It was established that the deviation of the internal forces values near the support ring in the meridional direction, the internal forces in the area of the dome’ top, as well as the cross-sectional reinforcement area and the shell thickness for all considered options do not exceed 10 %. Exceptions are the data on the internal forces near the support in the ring direction caused by the internal pressure for the 8-crew shell dome, and caused by all types of loads for the 10- and 12-crew variant, which is due to differences in the chosen analysis methods.