A Study of the Steady Flow of a Rigid-Plastic Clay Beneath a Driven Rigid Wheel

摘要

The steady two-dimensional flow beneath a driven rigid cylindrical wheel moving in a soft saturated clay is solved by assuming that the soil behaves like a rigid-plastic material. A plastic flow pattern is suggested and the quasi-static equations of flow are integrated in two regions of the plastic zone. An approximate solution provides the magnitude of the recovery angle, the vertical and horizontal forces and the torque acting on the wheel as function of wheel radius, sinkage and shear stress along the wheel. The theoretical results are compared with some existing measurements. (Author)