Two-Dimensional Simulation of the Angle of Repose for a Particle System with Electrostatic Charge under Lunar and Earth Gravity

Abstract

This paper presents a study of the angle of repose of a two-dimensional particle system under the Earth and Moon gravity fields. The particles interact with electrostatic forces in addition to friction. A two-dimensional discrete element method is used in this analysis with two particle shapes, circular and noncircular. The noncircular shape is constructed with overlapping pairs of disks. For the range of parameters studied, the angle of repose shows little sensitivity to gravity. The sensitivity to friction and electrostatic charges can be either significant or negligible, depending on the range of these values. For each contact friction, there is a threshold of electric charge on the particle such that the angle of repose suddenly drops to zero when the charge exceeds this threshold. The existence of this threshold, once validated in three-dimensional systems, may provide an opportunity to measure the electrostatic charges of the lunar dust in situ.