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by J. C. Meem

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Title: Pressure, Resistance, and Stability of Earth
American Society of Civil Engineers: Transactions, Paper No. 1174,
Volume LXX, December 1910

Author: J. C. Meem

Release Date: October 25, 2005 [EBook #16938]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS INSTITUTED 1852

TRANSACTIONS

Paper No. 1174

PRESSURE, RESISTANCE, AND STABILITY OF EARTH.[A]

BY J.C. MEEM, M. AM. SOC. C. E.

WITH DISCUSSION BY MESSRS. T. KENNARD THOMSON, CHARLES E. GREGORY,
FRANCIS W. PERRY, E.P. GOODRICH, FRANCIS L. PRUYN, FRANK H. CARTER, AND
J.C. MEEM.

In the final discussion of the writer's paper, "The Bracing of Trenches
and Tunnels, With Practical Formulas for Earth Pressures,"[B] certain
minor experiments were noted in connection with the arching properties
of sand. In the present paper it is proposed to take up again the
question of earth pressures, but in more detail, and to note some
further experiments and deductions therefrom, and also to consider the
resistance and stability of earth as applied to piling and foundations,
and the pressure on and buoyancy of subaqueous structures in soft
ground.

In order to make this paper complete in itself, it will be necessary, in
some instances, to include in substance some of the matter of the former
paper, and indulgence is asked from those readers who may note this
fact.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. SECTIONS OF BOX-FRAME FOR SAND-ARCH
EXPERIMENT]

_Experiment No. 1._--As the sand-box experiments described in the former
paper were on a small scale, exception might be taken to them, and
therefore the writer has made this experiment on a scale sufficiently
large to be much more conclusive. As shown in Fig. 1, wooden abutments,
3 ft. wide, 3 ft. apart, and about 1 ft. high, were built and filled
solidly with sand. Wooden walls, 3 ft. apart and 4 ft. high, were then
built crossin