A study of the steady flow of a rigid-plastic clay beneath a driven wheel

Abstract The steady two-dimensional flow benetath a driven rigid cylindrical wheel moving in a soft saturated clay is solved by assuming that the soil behaves like a rigid-plastic material. The general equations of plastic flow are discussed, with ephasis on the intertial effects. A plastic flow pattern is suggested and an approximate solution providing the magnitude of the recovery angle, the vertical and horizontal forces and torque acting on the wheel as functions of wheel radius, sinkage and shear strees along the wheel (assumed constant on the blow portion) is found. A minimum slippage necessary to maintain the shear strees on the wheel is found. The theoretical results are compared with some existing measurements and the agreement is generally satisfactory.