EdlingtonDue to an increasing number of projects requiring Plate Bearing Tests for the detailed design of floor slabs, crane bases and dynamically loaded foundations, ECG have recently designed and developed their own bespoke Plate Bearing Test apparatus.
Adapted significantly from a well-established and proven industry standard model, our new Plate Bearing Test apparatus, developed in-house comprises a lightweight 3-D printed design featuring in-built triple spirit-level stabilisation of the datum with extendable legs for quick and accurate setting up on un-even ground.
Triple readout micrometers attached magnetically to the base plate allow simple and robust determination of ground deflection in 3-axies to 0.01mm accuracy across a 12.7mm range of vertical movement.
Our set-up utilises a 30-ton hydraulic jack, capable of safely exerting a loading force of over 275kN (that’s over 1,700kPa of ground pressure when using a mid-size 450mm plate).
The problem will be finding a big enough machine to test it all the way! We accept the challenge though!
