Effect of Aspect Ratio on Soil Reactions on Flat Tines in Dry Sand

Abstract

Experiments were conducted in a laboratory soil bin with dry compact sand to study the effect of tine aspect ratio (tine width/tine depth in soil) on soil reactions. The tine was moved in the soil in a quasi-static condition and soil reactions were measured by an L-shaped force transducer. It was observed that vertical and horizontal soil reactions were cyclic in nature and were in phase for all the tines used in this study. Wavelength and amplitude of horizontal soil reaction was found to increase with tine aspect ratio and depth. The fine aspect ratio also affected the magnitude of soil reactions. When the tine aspect ratio was changed from 1 to 2, the horizontal soil reaction increased by 10 kN for a fine operating at 50 mm depth while it increased by about 300 kN for a tine operating at 125 mm depth. The rate of increase of wavelength of the horizontal soil reaction was about 20% for all tines as aspect ratio increased from 1 to 2. The soil reactions changed linearly with aspect ratio at a given depth. The soil reaction changed with tine depth, at a given aspect ratio, showing a cubic parabolic curve.