Cranfield University

Ancillary Experiments
In consequence the maximum sinkage in Figure 112 shows a small amount of noise. How-
ever, in comparison to the elastic recovery of the soil, noise is small (elastic recovery 0.8
mm and noise is 0.1 mm), and does not influence the shape of the curves, peak and relaxa-
tion sinkage measurably. Therefore no further attention will be paid to the noise.
Sinkage (mm)
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Ph.D. Thesis Dirk Ansorge (2007)
Circle
Square
Rectangle
Figure 112: Sinkage at an average load of 0.236 kN for the three treatments
Force (kN)
0,45
0,4
0,35
0,3
0,25
0,2
0,15
0,1
0,05
0
Circular
Square
Rectangle
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Figure 113: Force application for an average load of 0.236 kN for the three treatments
In a second phase the tests were repeated with an average load increased to 0.374 kN. The
sinkage for the three treatments and three replications at higher load is plotted in Figure
114. Again the track shaped plate caused the least sinkage followed by the square plate and
circular plate. Due to the higher load application the difference between the track and the
circular plate increased from approximately 1 mm in Figure 112 to 2.5 mm. The force ap-
plication over time is shown in Figure 115 and exhibits the same characteristics as dis-
cussed for Figure 113.
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