An investigation of pressure under wheeled vehicles

This paper reviews methods currently used to predict the pressure exerted by a wheeled vehicle on the ground. It describes a programme of experiments designed to measure the pressure at a certain depth in a soil mass, the surface of which is traversed by a number of different vehicles in a range of loading conditions. Methods for inferring the surface pressure from underground measurements are described and compared. The inferred surface pressures are then compared with predicted values. A discussion is given on the usefulness and validity of ground pressure characterisation for wheeled vehicles.