Estimating Vertical Stress on Soil Subjected to Vehicular Loading

This report describes a preliminary study in support of ongoing research to model soil stress resulting from vehicular traffic on unprepared ground. The soils used in this study were sand, wet sand, and silt. The soils in the prepared soil beds were first characterized as to strength, density, and plasticity. Then pressure sensors were embedded at depths of 2 and 5 in. These were then traversed several times by a Mine Detonation Trailer MDT and the pressure produced by a single chosen wheel recorded. The actual measured load of this wheel was 4700 pounds. The same series of measurements were made using the CRREL Instrumented Vehicle CIV with a measured wheel load of about 1500 pounds. The results were compared with the expected values calculated using the Froehlich modification of the Boussinesq equation.