The Dynamic Principles of Machine Foundations and Ground
The Dynamic Principles of Machine Foundations and Ground
The Dynamic Principles of Machine Foundations and Ground
ACTION O F T H E G R O U N D
Until recently, only limited study has been devoted to the
behaviour of ground under dynamic influences. Seismologists
and geophysicists are mainly concerned with ground movements
relatively remote from the source of disturbance; this paper deals
only with ground behaviour at the source.
From 1928 to 1939 Degebo and the University of Gottingen
in Germany, using controlled oscillators, examined extensively
the natural frequency of vibration peculiar to sites and various
types of soil; many of their results have since been substantiated
by Andrews and Crockett (1945)$ who independently discovered
and studied the same phenomena, through resonance between
industrial plant and adjacent ground.
Ground Self-fregguencies. The works of Degebo (1936), Lamb
(1904), Leet (1946), Rayleigh (1885), and Sezawa and Kanai
(1937) have all dealt with the subject of ground self-frequencies;
it has been found that the self-frequency of vibration of ground
is a function of the physical properties of the material, and
dependent on the thickness of the strata immediately adjacent
to the place of disturbance. The bearing strength of ground is Fig. 1. Spring-Weight System
also directly related to the self-frequency, and Bergstrom and
Linderholm (1946) showed that it provided a practical method as by a piston, where W lis the weight which will produce a
of measuring bearing values of soil for ordinary building sites. static elongation a in the spring. If is the natural frequency
of vibration of the spring-weight system, the steady state of
The MS. of this paper was originally received at the Institution on motion of the weight is
12th September 1947, and in its revised form, as accepted by the no2
Council for publication, on 2nd July 1948. For the Minutes of
Proceedings of the meeting in London on 8th April 1949,at which this
110,-N2asin2rrNt . . . . .
paper was presented, see Proc. I.Mech.E., 1949, vol. 160, p. 259. which is the vertical displacement at any time t in the cycle,
* Consulting Engineer. assuming that there is no eccentricity in the system. Resonance
t Technical writer! formerly Temporary Assistant Engineer,
*
Grade 1, Chief Scientlfic Adviser’s Division, Ministry of Works.
An alphabetical list of references is given in Appendix 11.
§ Andrews and Crockett were assisted in this work by J. Duf€, B.Sc.,
and G. E. Walker.
b POWER TO BEARINGS
WHEN UNBALANCED
c
d
z INDICATION OF
HOOP STRESSING
NCIPAL LINES OF STRESS
I
r I ,
0 10 20 30 40
INDUCING FREQUENCY-CYCLES PER SEC.
14;
,/’//
,
,/////////
//considerably increased by friction around the sides. Total weight
n b is not entirely dependent upon external dimensions of the con-
Crete; the foundation replaces some of the weight of the soil, and
Fig. 4. Effect of Active Ground Weight the concrete base itself may be of lightweight cellular form.
Fig. 5d represents a large block type of foundation taken
outside of this inner ellipsoidal compressed portion, as indicated down to a “good bottom”, where at times the upper parts of
by Fig. 5u. the sides may have little or no adhesion with the ground. If a
Degebo’s (1933)attempts to measure W, with an oscillator very heavy foundation is required, a more economical solution
showed that average errors of 25,50, and even greater percentages than the usual massive block is to use a large area (by stiff raft
occurred in the course of an experiment, though the self- for example) whereby W,is very large (Crockett and Hammond
frequency remained about the same. This implies that any 1948), as in Fig. 5.2. An alternative method is to use a piled
change in Wgis accompanied by an equivalent balancing change foundation, as in Fig. 5f, to increase the size and weight of
in K2,the spring constant. There must also be a definite relation the active ground still further.
between the vertical dimension concerned and the horizontal (b) Self-frequency Control. If the bulb proportions are con-
dimensions of the oscillator or other base which produces the stant, and the ground around is homogeneous, the self-frequency
’
;-\
‘1
1
’ \
! \ Fig. 7. Curve showing Ground,Settlement Proportional to
the Force of Inertia
Settlement is also a function of the inverse of the total active
weight, probably of WEfm. Degebo (1933) took two oscillators
with base areas of a quarter and one square metre respectively
on similar ground, the eccentric weights and their eccentricities
both being the same. Fig. 8 shows that the oscillator with the
INDUCING FREQUENCY-CYCLES PER SEC. smaller base, and incidentally the lighter ground weight, attained
the greater settlement; after a few thousand cycles at each
increment of increase in the frequency, settlement of both
oscillators tended to become constantly limited. Settlement of
this type and settlement from resonance caused the ground to
become compact as far as about a quarter of the diameter of the
foundation beyond, outside which it had no practical significance.
O TOTAL NUMBER xOF CYCLE5
20,000 25.000
I I
-
n.
Ln
5
- FOUNDATION AND GROUND
1 I 1
b
Fig. 16. Suspension of the Weight from Springs by
Suspension Rods
a Horizontal-translation isolation.
b Horizontal-rotation isolation.
1 I
> '
//,%/,'*.'A'///
. d
C
Fig, 15. Rotational and Translational Freedom of a Sprung
Weight
a Rotation only.
b Right to left translation plus anti-clockwise rotation.
c Right to left translation plus clockwise rotation.
d Two centres of rotation for an unsymmetrical system.
Fig. 18. Rubber Fig. 23. Cork Lining inside the Tank of an Insulated Foundation before the Inner Concrete had been Cast
Spring
Discussion
Mr. F. S. SNOW, M.I.Mech.E., said he had had very considerable living in houses 200 yards away lodged complaints with the
experience of the effects of vibration in buildings and various Council.
types of foundations. One building at Camden Town, a modern Another example was a building at the comer of London
block-some ten or twelve years old-adjoining the railway, Bridge where piles had been driven as close as 1 ft. 10 in. in
was on a comer site where there was a considerable amount of series along a wall quite satisfactorily, without any. difiidty;
loading and unloading on the premises, the major portion of the but 200 yards away another building had fallen down. Perhaps
vehicles being horse-drawn drays. the authors could explain how they had managed to do away
The architect and the engineer had endeavoured to minimize with wave effects 200 yards away, which was a matter’that
the vibration and noise by installing the whole of the building worried him at the present time.
on a cork foundation similar to the one shown in Fig. 23, though
much larger. The effect of the load over a number of years had Professor D. G. CHRISTOPHERSON, O.B.E., Ph.D., A.M.
been to compress the cork to such an extent as to render it I.Mech.E., said that the authors had stated in the summary of
virmally useless for the purpose originally intended, and the their paper that the most substantial advance which had taken
settlement of the whole building amounted to some 2+3 inches. place recently on the subject was the discovery that any particu-
It had also been found that where the cork was in contact with lar piece of ground had its own natural frequency; they had made
water, it had disintegrated and had gone into dust in parts, this it quite clear that the natural frequency was not intended simply
being a further cause of settlement, with the result that the to be a characteristic of a particular machine or a particular site
building, although of reinforced concrete, was considerably or foundation, but a characteristic of the ground at that place.
deformed and cracked in many places. As far as noise and It was impossible not to be struck by the queerness of that
vibration were concerned, the position was as it would have observation on purely theoretical grounds; by that he did not
been in the first place if there had been no expensive cork imply that the observation was not correct, for he was sure it
foundation. was. Similar observations had been made in a number of
Another problem which he had had to solve concerned a different ways.
series of “byrd” screens, used in the manufacture of pulp. Those It was equivalent to saying that, if the earth were considered
screens had been revolving out of unison, thus causing a con- as a very large elastic solid, then a natural frequency was being
siderable amount of vibration and sway on the floor. The produced which Mered from place to place ;the only physical
difficulty had been overcome by installing a series of struts quantities to determine this frequency appeared to be the elastic
coming down on to teak blocks at end-grain-the end-grain constants and the density, but a characteristic distance had to
rather than the cross-grain being an important point. No par- be introduced before the frequency could be determined.
ticular system fitted every machine. T o surmount the difficulty, gravity could be introduced as a
He had for many years experienced difficulty in piling work, controlling force, and the vibrations considered to be analogous
particularly when close to an adjoining building, to prevent the to gravity-controlled waves at sea, but a consideration of the
vibration from shaking the building down. At various times difference in frequency in the two cases showed that suggestion
cork mats had been used in the piling heads to prevent vibration, was most unlikely to be correct.
but those were very expensive. It had been found that packing The alternative explanation was that a characteristic distance
the hammer head of a pile with green elm was very much cheaper could be introduced by imagining the earth to be stratified in
and allowed about six piles to be driven, as against two when layers having Merent elastic constants. Oscillations could then
the cork mat was used. occur with a period equal to the time taken for an elastic wave
When piles were driven, or even when vibration was caused to go through a stratum and be reflected back again. There was
by a series of machines adjoining a wall, the worst vibration did no doubt that such oscillations did occur in appropriate cir-
not necessarily occur close to the machines. Some form of wave cumstances, but he believed that natural frequencies would also
was set up, which the authors had endeavoured to explain, but occur in places where no notable stratification could be discerned
which was still not very clear to him. On another site, where a for a very considerable depth from the surface, and where the
“Cecostamp” hammer had been installed, many complaints material appeared to be perfectly homogeneous.
were received from the occupiers of adjoining buildings. To He did not mean that in those places the earth was truly
minimize the disturbance Ole stamp was re-erected in a pit on homogeneous. He thought that at greater depths more con-
layers of cross timber (pitch pine), the whole being topped with solidation had occurred, and consequently the elastic constants
about 8 feet of concrete. As a result of those precautions, the were larger. Thus, in effect the earth might be considered not as
adjoining owners ceased to complain of the noise, but people a few thick strata of varying rigidity, but as an infinite number
(12) . . .
Those frequencies formed a series in which the various
Fig. 24 members were related approximately by simple arithmetic
ratios.
that the foundation was standing on the top of an infinitely long If, alternatively, it was assumed that the ground surface was
column of material having the specified properties. The same constrained by having a mass m per unit area placed upon it,
theory would hold, with modifications, if the supporting column then in place of the frequency equation (1l), a condition
was regarded as increasing in area at increased depths, as shown au aZu
by the dotted lines in Fig. 25. E-
ax
=m-a t 2 . . . . . (13)
obtained, wgch could be solved by making use of tabulated
values of the Bessel functions. A series of modified frequehcies
could be obtained corresponding to the original frequencies
from equation (12), which, provided m was not too large, might
very well be expressed in an equation similar to equation (2),
the value of the parameter W,being appropriately selected.
Communications
Professor R. N. ARNOLD,D.Sc., D.Eng., Ph.D., M.S., flotation, any of which might be capable of resonance. Such
M.I.Mech.E., wrote that he did not consider the paper a serious frequencies depended on the density and shape of the floating
contribution to the subject of foundation vibration. The authors’ object and objects of the same material and thickness would give
practical experience in suppressing such phenomena had ap- identical frequencies irrespective of size. The above was not
parently met with some success but it could not be inferred that intended to be a serious analogy of ground behaviour but the
they were thereby in a favourable position to expound the theory problems were not unrelated.
of ground vibration. If the authors had confined themselves to a Engineers would no doubt examine the conclusions to see if
description of their practical remedies, together with a sample they contairied any useful information regarding the suppression
of the main steps involved in their analysis, engineers would of excessive vibration in foundations. They were in general
have been able to assess the validity of their work. Instead they familiar with the phenomenon of resonance and did not require
presented pages of hypothetical theory, entirely unsupported to be reminded that it was something to be avoided. They would
by acceptable experimental evidence. If, however, the real prefer to know how it could be avoided and on that point the
function of the paper was to explain the “dynamic principles” authors’ paper seemed vague.
mentioned in the title, then that aspect must form the basis of
discussion. Mr. JAMES DUFF, BSc. (Sevenoaks), wrote that Timoshenko
The first part of the paper dealt almost exclusively with the (1934)t had shown that when a single impulse was applied to
experimental work of Degebo from which five diagrams were the ground, both the vertical and horizontal amplitudes fell off
reproduced. Those results had been misrepresented and the rapidly with depth. He himself had deduced that at a depth
authors had also perpetuated ideas already discredited. For greater than 100 feet those amplitudes became too s m a l l to
example, Fig. 3 was a complete travesty of the original diagram measure. He asked whether the self frequency increased
(Degebo 1933, Fig. 16). Precisely the same errors existed in indefinitely with depth or whether the figure of f25 per cent,
their previous paper (Crockett and Hammond 1948, Fig. 6). quoted by the authors, was an asymptotic limit.
Fig. 7, with the description given, was very misleading. The The authors had stated that a stratum depth of at least three
authors did not explain that the two curves were the result of times the bulb depth in homogeneous ground was necessary to
settlement during consecutive experiments on the same piece of ensure a reasonably constant self frequency. He did not know
ground under identical conditions. Moreover, the unit “Inertia what constituted homogeneity; but, presumably, the elastic
of unbalanced parts”, presumably indicating ft.2-lb. units, was constants should not show wide departures from average values.
in the original a function of mass x (frequency)*, namely, the He had examined the results given by Bergstrom and Linder-
holm (1946)$ and also some obtained at Sevenhampton. The
familiar ?u+ (lb.). Those curves had little scientific meaning Swedish tests had extended to a depth of 26 feet and the English
g
in the Degebo report and still less as presented by the authors. tests to 21 feet. Bergstrom and Linderholm had taken samples
The evidence for the existence of a ground weight Wg at various depths and determined values of E and G by various
required examination, since it occupied a key position in the static and dynamic methods. Of seventy-nine tests examined
authors’ theory. The obvious implication of Degebo’s inability only eleven gave acceptable values of Poisson’s ratio, and those
to measure W, was that it was non-existent. It was strange that values ranged between 0 and 0.49.
the spring force K 2 should be so accommodating as to vary In the English experiments, measurements of the horizontal
linearly with the fictitious W,. The statement “W, is always the and vertical displacements caused by a pile hammer were made
dominant controlling weight and the self-frequency of the system with a static weight vibrograph. It could be shown that the ratio
cannot be altered very much” implied (equation (2)) that WEwas of horizontal displacement/vertical displacement was a function
much greater than Wj+W,, but later a case was described in of Poisson’s ratio. A large number of values of Poisson’s ratio
which W’+ W, appeared to have a value of 1,570 tons while WE were obtained, but the variation was very great. He asked what
“probably amounted to a further 1,000 tons”. One could always effect the “homogeneity” of the ground would have on frequency.
choose a weight W, and spring force F2 to vibrate at a given The authors had mentioned that the unstable harmonic
frequency, but that did not mean that another complex elastic frequencies were non-linear, but he thought it was conceivable
system vibrating at the same frequency necessarily had any other that at some depth, or range of depths, the harmonic frequencies
factor in common with it. Simplicity of analogy was desirable might be linear.
but was only legitimate if the fundamental dynamics of the
problem remained identical. Mr. V. E. GOUGH, B.Sc. (Eng.), A.M.I.Mech.E., wrote that
He reserved judgement on whether the ground had or had it was clear from the paper that a simple mass-spring analogy
not a natural frequency of its own, for he had seen no experi- was inadequate for the solution of ground vibration problems,
mental evidence leading to such a conclusion. By assuming the and it appeared that the authors considered a closer approxi-
ground to be a semi-infinite homogeneous elastic solid, Reissner mation would be obtained if the system were assumed to consist
(1936)* showed that no discreet natural frequencies existed in of a very heavy spring element of the “active ground weight”
such a system. Reissner’s mathematical model might be open to Their argument was difficult to follow closely at that point.
criticism,but it was certainly nearer the truth than the assump- No method of making a practical estimate of W ‘ had been
tion that the static stress distribution in elastic spheres could given, save a few sketches in Fig. 5 which would permit wide
be used to study dynamic actions of the ground, subject to the variations in estimates by various designers, even in examples
introduction of a dubious volume called the “bulb of pressure”. illustrated. The fact that “Degebo’s attempts to measure W8
That the ground might possess no natural frequency of its own with an oscillator showed that average errors of 25,50, and even
was suggested by the action of a large stretch of water. A stone greater percentages occurred in the course of an experiment,
dropped in the centre of the lake sent out a train of surface though the self frequency remained about the same” challenged
ripples, If a cork floating nearby were used as a rudimentary the suggested theory and supported another, more likely, theory.
vibrograph its vertical motion would indicate a damped vibration The ground was capable of transmitting vibrations from a
of some frequency. That would not be the natural frequency of machine or to a machine, and was thus more nearly analogous
the water but would be a function of the size of the disturbance, to a transmission line or wave filter or a radiating field than
a larger stone producing a lower frequency. The cork, however, t TIMOSHENRO, S. 1934 “Theory of Elasticity,” p. 400 (McGraw
would possess natural frequencies due to its conditions of Hill, New York and London).
* RBISSNER,E. 1936 Inpnieure Archiv., vol. 7, p. 381. $ See list of references, p. 522.
m
SOME COMPONENTS IN
gESONANCE AT 7i CYCLES PER SEC.
GROUND FREQUENCY 15
N CYCLES PER SEC.
11
CYCLES PER SEC.
f--
Fig. 27. The Two Kinds (Steady and Shock) of Industrial Ground Vibration Wave Trains,and their Effect
kinds of surface waves by means of Waction, reflection, and train with a more or less even single frequency; at a distance
refraction, described elsewhere*, which had a frequency much there were up to about twenty, though of lesser amplitude.
the same as the frequency of the central system. Structural failures brought about by the building up of those
There were, therefore, near the source of disturbance an initial few cycles could not amount to much, especially since the train
kick followed by two simultaneous trains of waves, but remote of waves only had an approximate and not a steady frequency,
from the centre there was only the train left. Farther away again but under constant repetition, over long periods, such failures
the train became too weak to be of much importance, and still might be expected, particularly by fatigue in low-quality work.
farther away it could be considered dead. This sequence and Two complications to this shock action were worth mentioning :
its ef€ects was shown well in Fig. 27. the initial shock or kick set the structure into motion at its
Damage to neighbouring structures could result from such a natural frequency, and if that frequency happened to coincide
ground movement in several ways, the first being from forces with that of the train of waves which followed the initial shock,
set up by the high initial acceleration kick, which had been found a much bigger build up was likely; secondly, all tall structures
to give a trigger action, initiating failures where there already acted as inverted pendulums, and so had a greater oscillatory
existed high internal stresses.* In another kind of failure where movement at the top than lower down, and thus making the
the internal stresses were low, the shock accelerations existed for accelerations greater at height, with quicker fatigue and other
such a short time that one, or even several, such shocks were not effects, like loose rattles, noise, and disturbance.
likely to cause any noticeable permanent movement of one small In short, he suggested that steadily oscillating machines could
part of a structure relative to another, as with brick to brick, or produce simple resonance up to a considerable distance around,
a bolt in its hole ;if the shock was repeated thousands of times, and possibly with fatigue effects; heavy impulse installations
the accumulation of minute movements could develop into a could give shock conditions leading to failures in nearby struc-
serious distortion. One of the authors when blasting had slowly tures, but also resonance at more remote places during a small
dislocated the top of a church spire over a period of several number of cycles, and there were intermediate effects in between.
months. Such failures occurred locally to the source of disturb- Without an extensive dynamic survey of a neighbourhood,
ance because the shock waves died out so rapidly. Another one could not predict in which of 400 or 500 buildings, or in
important type of damage could result from shock waves; the which part of a building, resonance troubles would occur. One
natural sideways or swaying frequency of a structure was often had to wait till they occurred and then deal with them, knowing
a b u t two or less a second, and if it coincided with the number a little of the physical mechanism, either by altering the
of shocks per second, as with very large forging hammers and frequencies impressed on to the ground, or by mounting the
* C R ~and ,HAMMOND, 1947 Inst. C.E. Structural Paper No. machine on resilients in order to decrease the impressed forces,
18, “Reduction of Ground Vibrations into S.tructures”. or by reducing the shock action-as with more resilient packing
j-CRANDELL, F. J. 1949 Jl. Boston SOC. Civ. Eng., U.S.A. in the pile helmet or a softer spring pad under an anvil.
34
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530 C O M M U N I C A T I O N S ON T H E DYNAMIC P R I N C I P L E S O F M A C H I N E F O U N D A T I O N S
A possible explanation of Mr. Snow’s experience, in which a frequency of the train of Rayleigh waves was mostly measured ;
building had been damaged 200 yards away from pile driving, they were sufficiently similar to be taken as the same for engi-
while other nearer buildings remained unaffected, was that both neering purposes if the ground did not vary much.
the building and the pile driving were upon the same soft The oscillation principle of a double spring-weight system
stratum, while the intervening houses rested on a rather harder was mentioned extensively in engineering vibration text-books
stratum overlying it ;a house was said to have been demolished under the name of the “dynamic vibration absorber”, though
in that way in 1941 when a large forging hammer first started only two degrees of freedom were therein considered, where the
working. system had only two modes of oscillation and two natural fre-
Large forging hammers often produced a shock wave-or quencies when taken in the purely vertical sense (as usually
original acceleration-of about 0.001 second duration; Fig. 13 drawn). He was working upon that system in all its twelve degrees
illustrated such a case, though if a hammer was forging a large, of freedom where there were twenty natural frequencies and
soft, hot billet, the initial shock might easily become as long as modes, and the results were already applied and giving good
0-05 second. Work on the correlation of live load, dead load, and results. At least for large steadily running reciprocating machines,
soil characteristics, especially under oscillation conditions was it seemed to be a very powerful method of absorbing vibration,
being particularly examined by Bergstrom and others in Sweden and one which could be applied at least to some existing machines
for practical building and engineering purposes. without closing them down and completely rebuilding the
Mr. Chaddock’s gun base and the load applied to the ground foundation.
was interesting, but without more knowledge of gun-mounting Mr. Hvistendahl had asked whether any natural ground
design, the frequencies and the impulses given, he was unable frequencies existed within the important range of turbine fre-
to make suggestions. The paper stated that the natural frequency quencies. They had obtained apparent harmonics up to 120 cycles
of a single spring-weight system ought to be about one-third per second, and f i s t harmonics not infrequently had the same
that of the ground-foundation system in order (a) that there amplitude as the fundamental. Fig. 6, curve a, represented the
should be no resonance, with its accompanying soil failure, and settlement during a Degebo experiment, using the oscillator,
(b) that the live pressure on to the soil should be reduced; but and indicated the settlement after a large number of oscilla-
those required that the amplitude of the single spring-weight tions at rising increments of impressed frequency. The curve
should be large. If that amplitude had in any particular case to was probably not very accurate but was useful to engineers as an
be much smaller, either the weight had to be increased markedly, “indication” of what was likely to happen. When the weight of
or the natural frequency had to be increased to about three times a foundation was increased without its dimensions being altered
higher than that of the soil-foundation system, which, of course, in any way, as when the machine was erected upon it, the natural
increased the live load and the ground vibration again. The choice frequency was lowered ; that could easily be derected without
had to be made between two undesirable effects. However, since elaborate instruments. If the foundation weight were enlarged
a gun barrel moved already a considerable distance, and was fitted by increasing its dimensions below ground level, the natural
with controllable dampers, perhaps the gun mounting structures frequency could be expected’to alter, but to an extent it was
could have their natural frequencies reduced to say three or four probably impossible to predict, since not enough of the theory
cycles per second without uncontrollable liveliness. was known. Hence they insisted on repeated instrumental
Mr. Brown’s suggestions on soil stabilization around machine readings for all installations where accuracy was needed.
foundations ought to be borne in mind. Tschebotarioff had T o Mr. Watts they replied that the values of ground
quoted a remarkable case of resonance between a number of natural frequency in Table 1 were vertical. Andrews and
large water pumps and the ground ;the enormous build up had Crockett had found beat actions with some horizontal ones.
been much reduced by lowering the high water-table using a The high frequencies of Fig. 13 were not all the same (shown
continuously working well-point system all round the pump by counting them), but were all local natural frequencies inside
house. Perhaps soil stabilizing methods might vary a soil’s each of the three masses, those small oscillations being set into
natural frequency enough for some purposes, though there did motion by the initial shock wave used in that instance to promote
not seem to have been any research on the subject. the natural oscillation of the whole system.
Mr. S. Foster drew attention to a point not quite clear: that They agreed with Mr. Gough that sponge rubber, or
of a tension wave existing in a non-adhesive material like sand. mats of rubber with little rubber cylinders on each side, were
The sand was always precompressed by gravity. A tension wave good materials upon which a concrete block could be cast,
could exist in such a material up to the intensity of precompres- provided that the limitations of high frequency response was
sion. The algebraic s u m of the stresses of all stress waves passing remembered for such thin materials ;they were totally unsuited
at any moment was the actual stress. Cohesive soils could take for mounting machines having low frequencies. For some low-
more tension. frequency machines, like forging and sand-moulding equipment,
Mr. Hammond and he were indebted to Dr. Jones for the movement at high enough velocity and amplitude could often
reference to Boyle and Robinson’s work on refraction through be arranged so that an hydraulic damper like those illustrated
extensive boundaries rather than through the end of one thin in Fig. 20 could be used, but for higher-frequency oscillations
rod into another. The equivalent works for displacements were of small amplitudes, hysteresis damping seemed to be the only
still needed. Theory in the paper was necessarily very simplified practical solution, and there did not appear to be any engineer-
and short through lack of space; there was no menuon in it of ing material with a higher damping coefficientthan that of cork,
standing wave effects, nor of interference and distortion near with 15 per cent, which was rather low. A large concrete block
boundaries, which were important. certainly acted as a damper itself through dispersing stress
They had considered the extensive geophysical knowledge waves within its mass. Mr. Gough’s electrical analogy was
and experience of oil and other prospectors, referred to by excellent and seemed well worth further study, particularly the
h4r. Cowdell, but what happened at the centre of disturbance idea of the input impedence-frequency curve for the ground.
differed greatly from what happened remote from it ;their paper Electrical analogy had from time to time been applied to the
dealt almost exclusively with the former, which was not of subject; it was a most useful tool.
much interest to the geophysicist. All types of soil seemed to They were indebted to Dr. Rausch for his remarks, which
obey the general dynamic actions mentioned. They had used a confirmed their own experience, and for the reference to Ehlers’
simple vibrograph to measure the natural frequency of the work of 1942. Some variations of natural frequencies for tall
ground or of a foundation-ground system, and they usually and thin foundations and for low and broad ones appeared in
dropped a weight of several hundred pounds from 2 or 3 feet Dr. Rausch’s book on the subject, and answered Mr. Hvisten-
height to start the motion. It was necessary to impart the dahl’s query about loading a foundation, which was much the
energy in the weight very quickly to the ground, so some form same action as adding height to it.
of striking plate was needed, well bedded into the ground so as The variation of ground self-frequency of f25 per cent
to give a sharp and short impulse ;the bare ground was mostly mentioned was a rough judgement; they had no idea whether
much too soft. The natural ground frequency could be measured there were asymptotic limits in any way produced by the non-
close to the point of impact, but there was less damage to the linearity, but stated, in reply to Mr. Duff, that they were
instrument if it was placed some distance away, in which case the beginning to think that that subject could not be treated as