UPREB (Universal Predictors of Regolith Behaviour)

Regolith behaviour on the Moon is extremely complex due to the exotic morphology and heterogeneous mixture of the regolith itself, as well as the harsh lunar conditions it is subject to. In order to develop lunar hardware to handle, transport and process regolith in the context of lunar activities, we need to fundamentally understand how the material behaves at the particle level and how we can predict its behaviour in interaction with hardware on the Moon. These are the main goals of the UPREB methodology we have developed, for it to be used develop and design lunar hardware that will work with lunar regolith on the Moon.

The UPREB methodology is based on discrete regolith particle properties, regolith digital twins, DEM simulations and surrogate models to enable physically accurate, but fast and large-scale regolith flow simulations in the lunar environment. We are looking for collaborators, rheologists, lunar regolith - and simulation experts to join us in continuing to develop UPREB. We are especially interested in experimental research and data of lunar regolith on the Moon or regolith simulants, such as particle characteristics and rheological properties in different conditions present on the lunar surface.