Plate Sinkage Tests: Effects on Sandy Soils and Implications for Mobility Modelling

摘要

The pressure–sinkage relationship of surface soil is one of the main soil-vehicle interaction problems considered for vehicle mobility in off-road system engineering, such as agricultural mobility engineering and military mobility engineering. This work is aimed at comparing pressure-sinkage experimental results obtained with two shapes of plate and different speeds, on a sandy loam soil and two sand soils each with variable density. Tests were performed in small and large soil bins. Experimental results aimed to verify a new pressuresinkage model compared to Bekker's model. Differences between rectangular (1.5:1.0 length width ratio) and circular plates with the same base area were found to be small. Significant increases in pressure at a given sinkage were found with increases in density on all soils. Results from the new modelling technique (Benoit, 2002; Gotteland and Benoit, 2003) showed good correlation with experimental results and those from Bekker's model.