ISSN: 0149-6115
Page Count: 20

The Influence of Variation of Centrifugal Acceleration and Model Container Size on Accuracy of Centrifuge Test

Zeng, X
Associate Prof. of Civ. Engrg.,Case Western Reserve University,Ohio,

Lim, SL
Civ. Engrg., Univ. of Kentucky,KY,

(Received 18 December 2000; accepted 27 June 2001)

Abstract

Centrifuge modeling has become a popular and powerful experimental tool in geotechnical engineering. The centrifugal acceleration, which is used to simulate the gravitational acceleration, varies within a model in both magnitude and direction. As a result, the stress field in a centrifuge model is different from that in the prototype being simulated. This paper presents the results of a numerical simulation of the effect of the variation in radial centrifugal acceleration on the stress distribution in a centrifuge model, and its impact on the accuracy of test results. The influence of the centrifuge radius and the size of a model container is investigated.

Keywords:
accuracy, centrifuge test, model container, numerical simulation

Paper ID: GTJ11077J
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ11077J
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