THERMAL SCIENCE
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NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF TEMPERATURE RESPONSE IN LUNAR ROCK UNDER LASER IRRADIATION IN EXTREME LUNAR THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS
ABSTRACT
The harsh lunar environment poses significant challenges for bedrock excavation, while laser-induced rock fragmentation offers a highly efficient and promising alternative. Numerical simulation of laser-induced rock fragmentation under extreme lunar temperature conditions provides an effective approach for feasibility assessment. By establishing a temperature field model for laser rock breaking under extreme temperature conditions on the moon, the temperature distribution and evolution of lunar rocks under laser irradiation in three temperature environments were analyzed. The research results indicate that the influence area of laser rock interaction is concentrated in the local area irradiated by the laser spot, and there are obvious protrusions on the surface of lunar rocks in this area. The temperature field follows a Gaussian distribution; Within the same laser processing time, there are significant differences in the internal temperature of rocks due to varying ambient temperatures; The temperature field inside the lunar rock after laser irradiation under three different temperature environments evolves basically the same over time. When the laser is not applied, the temperature at various positions inside the lunar rock is consistent with the temperature environment it is in; Short term laser action causes a rapid increase in the internal temperature of lunar rocks, with a significant amplification; Under extreme temperature conditions, laser irradiation on rocks can be divided into two typical regions based on temperature distribution characteristics: the laser irradiation strong influence zone (I),laser irradiation weak influence zone (II).
KEYWORDS
Laser irradiation, Moon rock, Extreme temperature environment, temperature distribution, finite element simulation
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2025-06-12
PAPER REVISED: 2025-09-11
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-09-17
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-07-18
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI250612107L
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© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence


