2.2.2 Advantages and Limitations

Advantages

A centrifuge increases soil self-weight by increasing an acceleration to the level n times higher than the Earth's gravity for the model scale of 1/n. Centrifuge modelling also saves time required for tests since the model size is reduced. It is often told that the centrifuge tests enable you to save experimental costs compared with the large model tests under Earth's gravity field.

Limitations

Centrifuge users need to know the following limitations involved in the modelling.

• Errors in centrifugal acceleration field
• Grain size
• Difficulty in modelling actual site, i.e. aging, sophisticated subsoil condition
• Inconsistency of scaling factor on time

  model length	1/n
  inertia force	1/n
  laminar flow	1/n2
  creep	1