Measurement of boundary total stress in a multi-gravity environment

Although the measurement of physical phenomena such as pore water pressure, displacement and load is routinely carried out with a high degree of accuracy both in prototype and in small scale centrifuge models, the accurate derivation of soil stresses poses a number of problems. The design criterion is first reviewed and discussed with focusing on cell and soil effects. Key guidance is proposed by introducing flexibility factor in the design of earth pressure cells. A new kind of miniature earth pressure cells is developed to measure boundary total stress in a multi-gravity environment. The performance of their calibration is given under pressure of water, dry fine sand pressure and saturated fine sand produced in flight of centrifugal acceleration. An application is also reported of the newly developed miniature earth pressure cells in measuring lateral soil stress against a single wall in ground of dry fine sand. A reasonable K-0 value is derived from the measured earth pressure, demonstrating their accuracy in the measurement of boundary total stress in a multi-gravity environment.