Publication news

Upper-bound solutions for the soil thrust of clay under a track system in 3D conditions

Sang Inn Woo, Sung-Ha Beak

Journal of Terramechanics, Volume 105, 2023, Pages 41-51, ISSN 0022-4898

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jterra.2022.11.001.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022489822000738)

Abstract: This study proposes a quick and reliable method for estimating the soil thrust in clay ground for a tracked vehicle based on limit analysis in three-dimensional conditions. With respect to the shape and location of failure surfaces in clayey ground, block, triangular wedge, and trapezoidal wedge failure modes were considered. Between the upper-bound solutions from the different failure modes, the least upper-bound solution was proposed as the soil thrust. To verify the proposed solution, it was compared to the model test and numerical simulations for a track system over model clay ground. The proposed upper-bound solution is expected to produce a reliable soil thrust quickly in real time, especially for submerged heavy-weight remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).

Keywords: Remotely operated vehicle; Soil thrust; Clay; Upper bound; Plasticity