Bahir Institute of Technology Soil Mechanics - I

Faculty of Civil and Water Resource Engineering Target group: Third year Regular WRE

1. A rectangular concrete slab, 3m × 4.5m, rests on the surface of a soil mass. The load on the
slab is 2025kN. Determine the vertical stress increase at a depth of 3m
a. under the center of the slab, point A Figure 1
b. under point B (Figure 1);
c. at a distance of 1.5m from a corner, point C (Figure 1); and
d. compare the results from (a) with an estimate using the approximate method.

Figure 1

By Birhanu B. February, 2023

Bahir Institute of Technology Soil Mechanics - I
Faculty of Civil and Water Resource Engineering Target group: Third year Regular WRE

2. A strip foundation (a long foundation in which the length is much longer than the width)
of width 1m is used to transmit a load of 40kN/m from a block wall to the soil. Determine
the increase in total vertical stress at a depth of 1m under the center and at the edge of the
foundation.
3. A column transfers a load of 150kN to a square concrete foundation 1.5m × 1.5m.
a. Plot the increase of vertical total stress with depth up to a depth of 5m under the
center of the foundation.
b. At what depth is the increase in vertical total stress less than 10% of the surface
stress?
4. A column transfers a load of 200kN to a rectangular concrete foundation 1.5m × 2m.
a. Plot the increase of vertical total stress with depth up to a depth of 5m under the
center of the foundation.
b. At what depth is the increase in vertical total stress less than 10% of the surface
stress?
5. A foundation 7.5m × 5m is proposed near an existing one, 3m × 5m as shown in Figure 2.
a. Determine the vertical total stress increase at A, B, and C at a depth of 5m below
the ground surface of the existing foundation before construction of the proposed
foundation.
b. Determine the total increase in vertical stress at A, B, and C at a depth of 5m below
the ground surface of the existing foundation after the construction of the proposed
foundation.

Figure 2

By Birhanu B. February, 2023

Bahir Institute of Technology Soil Mechanics - I
Faculty of Civil and Water Resource Engineering Target group: Third year Regular WRE

6. A 3m wide and infinitely long flexible strip load of 40 kN/m2 is placed on an elastic
medium as shown in Figure 3. Find the vertical stress increase at points A, B, and C located
1m below the surface.

Figure 3

7. Figure 4 shows a flexible rectangular raft that is 8 m x 16 m and applies a uniform pressure
of 80 kN/m2 to the underlying ground. Find the vertical stress increase, Δδ, at 4 m below
A, B, C, and D.

Figure 4

8. A flexible L-shaped raft shown in Figure 5 applies a uniform pressure of 60 kN/m2 to the
underlying ground. Find the vertical stress increase at 4 m below A, B, and C.

By Birhanu B. February, 2023

Bahir Institute of Technology Soil Mechanics - I
Faculty of Civil and Water Resource Engineering Target group: Third year Regular WRE

Figure 5

9. Figure 6 shows an embankment load on a silty clay soil layer. Determine the stress increase
at points A, B, and C, which are located at a depth of 5 m below the ground surface.

Figure 6

10. A farmer requires two steel silos to store wheat. Each silo is 8m in external diameter and
10m high. The foundation for each silo is a circular concrete slab thickened at the edge.
The total load of each silo filled with wheat is 9000kN. The soil consists of a 30m thick
deposit of medium clay above a deep deposit of very stiff clay. The farmer desires that the
silos be a distance of 1.6m apart and hires you to recommend whether this distance is
satisfactory.
a. Plot the distribution of vertical stress increase at the edges and at the center of one
of the silos up to a depth of 20m. Assume the medium clay layer is semi-infinite
and the concrete slab is flexible. Use a spreadsheet to tabulate and plot your results.
b. Is the distance between silos satisfactory? What are the parameters needed to decide
whether it is satisfactory or not.

By Birhanu B. February, 2023