2012 Volume 68 Issue 2 Pages I_21-I_32
In this paper, a series of physical modeling with different sample preparation methods and types of basal support was conducted to investigate vertical pressure profiles beneath a planar valley of loose sand. A linear elastic solution of stress field for semi-infinite valley loaded by self weight was derived and compared with the experimental results. Despite of different geometry, the solution obtained from an elliptic equation system with an assumption of self-similarity was found equivalent to a classical Fillunger's solution of a planar semi-infinite wedge with body force. The Fillunger-based solution is found to underestimate the measured vertical pressure. Moreover, the analytic stress field was considered as an inadmissible state because linear elasticity failed to satisfy the limit stress condition along cascading down slopes.
