Soil Stress State Under Loads of Commercial Vehicles

The paper contains experimental results of soil stress state under loading of commercial wheeled vehicles. The measurements were performed with the use of SSTs (Stress State Transducers), which enable to determine soil pressures needed for calculations of stress state at a point: principal stresses and their direction cosines as well as octahedral stresses. A detailed description of the measuring method with an introductory theory of operation of the SST together with some methodology aspects of soil pressure measurements are included. The field tests were conducted on three different soil surfaces: loess, sand and turf as well as on snow surface in winter conditions. For the tests, two vehicles were used: a 5,6T 4x4 truck and a 14T 6x6 truck. The vehicles were driven at constant low speed or at different speeds. Moreover, effects of wheel loading, reduced inflation pressure, drive modes (rolling or driving) were also analyzed. The results are presented partially in a form of stress courses and as numerical data of peak maximum stresses under wheels.