Studies on effect of surface coating on forces produced by cage wheel lugs in wet clay soil

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to study the effect of surface coating on lug forces in a laboratory soil bin with the help of model cage wheel lugs in quasi-static condition. The lug surfaces were coated with Teflon tape, ceramic tile and enamel and their performance was compared with an uncoated mild steel lug. An ‘L’ shaped force transducer was designed to measure normal and tangential soil reactions. These forces were then converted into pull and lift forces. At constant sinkage, slip and soil moisture content, lug forces generated by the coated lugs did not differ significantly from those generated by the uncoated lug. Increase in lug sinkage caused increase in lug forces. However, at any constant sinkage lug forces produced by the various lugs were almost the same. Increasing lug slip beyond 35% slip did not affect the lug forces significantly. Increase in soil moisture content caused a decrease in lug forces. However, lug forces generated by the various lugs at any moisture did not differ significantly from each other. In general it was observed that coating of lug surfaces with the above mentioned non-wettable materials did not affect the lug forces.