0.28 

 0.24 

 0.20 

 0.16 

 0.12 

 0.08 









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N \ 





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100 200 300 400 500 600 700 80 



Time (seconds) 

 Figure 1 1. Typical curves for bearing pressure and development versus time. 



Data Analysis 



Of interest in the analysis of the plate bearing test data is the relationship 

 between bearing pressure and plate settlement. Parameters which may be signif- 

 icant in affecting this relationship are the plate settlement rate, the shape of the 

 plate, and the plate width or diameter. In order to determine the effect of each 

 parameter on the test results, various tests in which only one parameter was 

 varied were compared. 



Figures 12 and 13 present representative comparisons of pressure- 

 settlement curves on the basis of settlement rate (SC-18 and SC-19) and plate 

 shape (SC-17 and SC-29). Figure 13 also presents curves for two tests (SC-20 

 and SC-29) with essentially identical parameters. The variation between the 

 last two curves may be taken as typical of the data scatter inherent in the test 

 program. As may be seen from these figures, the variation among test results 

 in which the testing rate differs by a factor of 2.5 or in which the plate shape 

 varies from round to square is of the same order as the variation between the 

 results of two tests with the same parameters. On the basis of these and other 

 results from this test series, it was concluded that the plate shape and testing 

 rate do not have an important effect on the pressure— settlement curves for 

 tests run with the range of parameter values considered here on cohesive 

 marine sediments. This is in line with the conclusion of Reference 1. 



14 



