(Edited:)
I've been trying to figure-out which types of ground would allow mechs that have at least roughly the same mass as that of The Iron Giant to stand, walk, and run around on without the mechs sinking into said ground, whether that be ground made of solid granite, concrete, solid steel, or even something else entirely (although I would prefer it to be a solid physical substance rather than something like, say, a forcefield).
That being said, in the story world I'm working on, I do want there to be instances of mechs walking top of regular dirt, so, once I figure-out which materials could support mechs of The Iron Giant's Mass, I'd like to see how much dirt I can put on top of those materials before the mechs start sinking into the dirt again.
Updates based on answers/comments I've received:
What I need to do to figure this out is to find the weight of my mech over the surface of the feet in contact with the ground, and then look up what the compressive strength for different materials are; if the compressive strength can support the weight the mech puts on the ground over the surface area of the feet, then I'm good. In order to figure this out, however, I need to know what a mech the size of The Iron Giant would weigh. As for The Iron Giant himself, he would probably have to be made of some super-lightweight alien material that otherwise behaves similar to iron or steel, because he can walk around on dirt just fine. For the purposes of my research, I'm willing to start off by treating the mechs' weight as though these mechs are entirely made of real-world steel from earth, and I'd also like to assume that, unlike The Iron Giant, these mechs' upper legs are the same thickness as their lower legs and that the mechs' upper arms are the same thickness as their forearms. Given these parameters, how would I go about calculating how much these mechs would weigh? Additionally, it would be a big help if somebody knows the size of the area of the soles of The Iron Giant's feet, or, at least, could please point me in the direction of a website or app that lets me put accurate digital rulers onto digital pictures so that I can measure the objects in those pictures, to help me figure out the surface area of the feet's soles myself.
Also, in terms of how much mechs weigh, I've been informed that Gundams seem to be in the 60-80 metric ton range, Macross mecha seem to be about 15 metric tons, and Mechwarrior mechs range from 20-100 metric tons. So now, I have a point of reference for how much a 50-foot tall mech could weigh (although I am still interested in the prospect of running the aforementioned weight calculation(s) I've listed above). (Again, if someone either knows the surface areas of the soles of those mechs' feet, or has a way to help me calculate them myself, that information would also be greatly appreciated.👍)
Other Notes:
- The Iron Giant is 50 feet tall.