Optimising speed and frequency of a scale model smooth vibrating drum roller on lunar highland regolith simulant

As part of NASA’s Artemis program, establishing a sustainable lunar base near the Moon’s South Pole is a key objective. Understanding the effects of compaction on the lunar surface is essential to support infrastructure development and long-term exploration activities. This study presents the results of laboratory experiments conducted using a scaled lunar vibrating drum roller (LVDR-1) to investigate the densification behaviour of lunar highland regolith simulant. LVDR-1 used in this study had two different roller masses: 2.92 kg and 4.45 kg. Besides mass, experiments conducted evaluated the effects of varying roller speed and motor frequency. Key metrics such as surface settlement and roller-induced vertical pressure were measured to assess compaction effectiveness. The vertical pressure results were most influenced by the frequency at which the LVDR-1 operated. For the 2.92 kg mass, the highest peak pressures were observed at 2 km/h and 40 Hz, whilst for the 4.45 kg mass, 6 km/h and 40 Hz were found to be optimal, confirming that the optimal combination of speed and frequency differs with roller mass.