Simulation of the soft ground

[honeywhite]

Hi,

I’m looking for some material to simulate a soft ground like soft clay or peat. I need to do some laboratory tests of working platform. I have 2 laboratory stands – wooden chest and the other one, smaller made of glass. I’ll be really thankful for some ideas.

Kate

 

[dgillette]

Could you use...soft clay?
Neoprene pads?
Go to the camping store and buy a backpacker's foam sleeping pad?
Does the compression have to be permanent (like soft clay or peat or DuxSeal putty, which is commonly used in centrifuge models), or is elastic rebound from a neoprene pad OK?

For my curiosity, would you describe what it is you are doing? I'm guessing that this is a bench-scale research model, rather than centrifuge or large-scale. You can post a sketch.

 

[honeywhite]

Thank you for your help dgillette.

I need to test a failure mechanism in working platform (I enclose a sketch of it from working platform guide) with geosynthetic reinforcement and now I’m planning a preparing. I don’t have money to carry out tests right now, but if I’ll have some good plan, I’ll surely gain some.

“Does the compression have to be permanent (like soft clay or peat or DuxSeal putty, which is commonly used in centrifuge models), or is elastic rebound from a neoprene pad OK?”

I need to think about it. Working platform is a temporary construction but it also can be used as a part of permanent construction. In choosing material it is really important to choose that one which can be easily remove from stand without time-consuming cleaning. I’ll search some information about DuxSeal putty on the internet, but if you have some materials about it can you post it?

I’ll post a sketch a soon as I get some instructions and sketches of laboratory stands which I can use.

 

[dgillette]

Hi Kate. I think I understand better now. The working platform is granular fill rather than a structural platform or a lean concrete "mud mat," right? What is your ultimate goal with this experiment? And you are looking for ultimate bearing capacity, or a working load that does not cause excessive settlements? Is the purpose to decide on the required thickness of densified fill that is needed for the working platform?

If this is what you are after, you will have to forget my ideas about camping pads and such. (When I said that, I was thinking you just needed something softer than a concrete or steel structure.) I do not recall whether the DuxSeal putty is stronger than children's modeling clay (plasticene), but maybe you should consider using whichever of the two is weaker. It would be more realistic of course to use actual soft clay, but it might be easier to use the plasticene, and you could measure its strength with a small laboratory vane after it has been remolded and pressed into the box.

[¡]Bon chance!