Chidanand Jadar 15CV53

Asst. Prof

MODULE - 2
Stresses in Soil Mass
Topics

Stresses below a Circularly Loaded (Vertical) Flexible Area

 Stresses below the center of the loaded area.
 Stresses at any point below the loaded area.
 Vertical Stress below a Rectangular Loaded
Area Stresses due to any Type of
Loaded Area
Stresses in Layered Medium
Stresses below a Circularly Loaded (Vertical) Flexible Area
Stresses below the center of the loaded area
Integration of the Boussinesq equation can be adopted to obtain the stresses below the center of a
circularly loaded flexible area. Figure 3.21 shows a circular area of radius b being subjected to a
uniform load of q per unit area. Consider an elementary area . The load over the area is equal to
, and this can be treated as a point load. To determine the vertical stress due to the elementary
load at a point P, we can substitute
for R in equation (47). Thus

Figure 1 Stresses below the center of a circularly loaded area

Since the vertical stress at P due to the entire loaded area may now be obtained by
substituting for in equation (63) and then integrating:
Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru
Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Proceeding in a similar manner, we can also determine at point P as

Stresses at any point below the loaded area

A detailed tabulation of stresses below a uniformly loaded flexible circular area was given by Ahlvin
and Ulery (1962). Referring to Figure 3.22, the stresses at point P may be given by

Figure 3.22 Stresses at any point below a circularly loaded area

Where are function of ; the values of these are given in tables

7 to 13.

Note that is a principal stress, due to symmetry. The remaining two principal stresses can be
determined as

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Vertical Stress below a Rectangular Loaded Area

The stress at a point P at, a depth z below the corner of a uniformly loaded (vertical) flexible
rectangular area (Figure 3.23) can be determined by integration of Boussinesq’s equations given in
section 3.2.1. The vertical load over the elementary area may be treated as a point load of
magnitude . The vertical stress at P due to this elementary load can be evaluated with the
aid of equation (47):

The total increase of vertical stress at P due to the entire loaded area may be determined by
integration of the above equation with horizontal limits of .
Newmark (1935) gave the results of the integration in the following form:

Table 7. Function

After R. G. Ahlvin and H. R. Ulery, Tabulated Values for Determining the Complete Pattern of
Stresses, Strains and Deflections beneath a Uniform Load on a Homogeneous Half Space. Highway
Research board, Bulletin 342, 1962.

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.5 2

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
.09852 .10140 .11138 .13424 .18796 .05388 -.07899 -.02672 -.00845
.18857 .19306 .20772 .23524 .25983 .08513 -.07759 -.04448 -.01593
.26362 .26787 .28018 .29483 .27257 .10757 -.04316 -.04999 -.02166
Table 8. Function

0.1

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof
0.2
0.3
0.4 .32016 .32259 .32748 .32273 .26925 .12404 -.00766 -.04535 -.02522
0.5 .35777 .35752 .35323 .33106 .26236 .13591 .02165 -.03455 -.02651
0.6 .37831 .37531 .36308 .32822 .25411 .14440 .04457 -.02101
0.7 .38487 .37962 .36072 .31929 .24638 .14986 .06209 -.000702 -.02329
0.8 .38091 .37408 .35133 .30699 .23779 .15292 .07530 .00614
0.9 .36962 .36275 .33734 .29299 .22891 .15404 .8507 .01795
1 .35355 .34553 .32075 .27819 .21978 .15355 .09210 .02814 -.01005

After R. G. Ahlvin and H. R. Ulery, Tabulated Values for Determining the Complete Pattern of
Stresses, Strains and Deflections beneath a Uniform Load on a Homogeneous Half Space. Highway
Research board, Bulletin 342, 1962.

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

After R. G. Ahlvin and H. R. Ulery, Tabulated Values for Determining the Complete Pattern of
Stresses, Strains and Deflections beneath a Uniform Load on a Homogeneous Half Space. Highway
Research board, Bulletin 342, 1962.

Table 10 Function D

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

After R. G. Ahlvin and H. R. Ulery, Tabulated Values for Determining the Complete Pattern of
Stresses, Strains and Deflections beneath a Uniform Load on a Homogeneous Half Space. Highway
Research board, Bulletin 342, 1962.

Table 11 Function E

6 .00976 .00788 .00625 .00488 .00381 .00301 .00190 .00124 .00086

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof
7 .00787 .00662 .00542 .00445 .00360 .00292 .00192 .00130 .00092

After R. G. Ahlvin and H. R. Ulery, Tabulated Values for Determining the Complete Pattern of
Stresses, Strains and Deflections beneath a Uniform Load on a Homogeneous Half Space. Highway
Research board, Bulletin 342, 1962.

Table 12 Function F

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

After R. G. Ahlvin and H. R. Ulery, Tabulated Values for Determining the Complete Pattern of
Stresses, Strains and Deflections beneath a Uniform Load on a Homogeneous Half Space. Highway
Research board, Bulletin 342, 1962.

After R. G. Ahlvin and H. R. Ulery, Tabulated Values for Determining the Complete Pattern of
Stresses, Strains and Deflections beneath a Uniform Load on a Homogeneous Half Space.
Highway Research board, Bulletin 342, 1962.

Figure 3.23 Vertical stress below the corner of a uniformly loaded (normal) rectangular area

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

(72)

Where .

This values of for various values of m and n are given in a graphical form is Figure 3.24. A similar
plot of in a slightly different form was also given by Fadum (1948).

Figure 3.24 Values of for determination of vertical stress below the corner of a flexible
rectangular loaded area

For equations concerning the determination of , the reader is referred to the

works of Holl (1940) and Giroud (1970).

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

The use of Figure 3.24 for determination of the vertical stress at any point below a rectangular loaded
area is shown in example 4.

Example 3A distributed load of is acting on the flexible rectangular area m as

shown in Figure 3.25. Determine the vertical stress at point A which is located at a depth of 3 m
below the ground surface.

Solution The total increase of stress at A may be evaluated by summing the stresses contributed by
the four rectangular loaded areas shown in Figure 3.26. Thus,

Figure 3.25

From Figure 3.25, similarly,

So,

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Figure 3.26

Stresses due to any Type of Loaded Area

Newmark (1942) prepared several influence charts for determination of stresses at any point below
any type of vertically loaded flexible area. These influence charts for and are given
in Figures 27 to 30. (Note that Figure 3.27 and 30 are for are not functions of
Poisson’s ratio and, hence, Figure 3.28 and 30 are valid for all values of v). The procedures for
calculating stresses by using these influence charts are given below.

Figure 3.27 Influence chart for vertical stress for all v alues of v. (After Newmark, 1942, taken
from H. G. Poulos and E. H. Davis, “Elastic Solution for Soil and Rock Mechanics,” p. 78, Wiley,
New York, 1974)
Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru
Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Figure 3.28 Influence chart for . (After Newmark, 1942, taken from H. G.
Poulos
and E. H. Davis, “Elastic Solutions for Soil and Rock Mechanics,” p. 80, Wiley, New York, 1974)

Figure 3.29 Influence chart for for all values of v. (After Newmark, 1942, taken from H. G.
Poulos and E. H. Davis, “Elastic Solutions for Soil and Rock Mechanics,” p. 80, Wiley, New York,
1974)

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Calculation of using Figure 3.27. Assume that we have to determine the vertical stress at a depth
z below the point P of the loaded area shown in Figure 3.31. The following are the required steps:

1. Adopt a scale such that the distance AB in Figure 3.28 is equal to the depth z.
2. Based on the plan plotted in step 1, replot the plan of the loaded area.
3. Place the plan plotted in step 2 on the influence chart in such a way that point P is located
directly above the center of the chart (shown by broken lines in Figure 3.27). Note that
orientation of the positive x and y axes is immaterial in this case.
4. Count the number of blocks, N, of the influence chart which fall inside the plan.
5. Calculate as

(73) is the influence value of the chart.

Calculation of using Figure 3.28. To determine the stresses at a depth z below

the point P shown in Figure 3.31, we first plot the plan of the loaded area using a scale
(given in Figure 3.29). To find the plan in placed over the influence chart in such a way that the
point P is located directly above the center of the chart, and the positive x and y axes of the plan are
parallel to and in the same direction as the positive x and y axes of the chart. The magnitude of
can now be determined by using equation (73). For determination of we place the plan over the
influence chart such that P is located above the center of the chart and the positive x axis of the plan
is parallel to and in the same direction as the positive y axis of the chart. The equation (73) may be
used for determination of the desired stress.

Calculation of using Figure 3.29 and 30. The basic procedure of replotting the plan is
similar to that explained above, and the stresses can be calculated by using equation (73). However,
care should be taken with the orientation of the positive x and y axes of the plan with respect to the
positive x and y axes of the influence chart. The blocks in Figures 29 and 30 shown as negative
should be counted as negative. So, the net value of N to be used in the stress calculation is equal to
.

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Figure 3.30 Influence chart for for v=0.5. (After Newmark, 1942, taken from H. G. Poulos and
E. H. Davis, “Elastic Solutions for Soil and Rock Mechanics,” p. 82, Wiley, New York, 1974)

Figure 3.31

1.2.4 Stresses in Layered Medium

In the preceding sections, we discussed the stresses inside a homogeneous elastic medium due to
various loading conditions. In actual cases of soil deposits it is possible encounter layered soils, each
with a different modulus of elasticity. A case of practical importance is that of a stiff soil layer on
top of a softer layer, as shown in Figure 3.32. For a given loading condition, the effect of the stiff
layer will be to reduce the stress concentration in the lower layer. Burmister (1943) worked on such
problems involving two-and three-layer flexible systems. This was later developed by Fox (1948).
Burmister (1958), Jones (1962), and Peattie (1962).

The effect of the reduction of stress concentration due to the presence of a stiff top layer is
demonstrated in Figure 3.33. consider a flexible circular area of radius b subjected to a loading of q
per unit area at the surface of a two-layered a system as shown in Figure 3.33. are the
moduli of elasticity of the top and the bottom layer, respectively, with ; and h is the thickness
of the top layer. For the elasticity solution for the vertical stress at various depth below the
center of the loaded area can be obtained from Figure 3.33. The curves of against for
is the simple Boussinesq case, which is obtained by solving equation (64). However, for
, the value of for a given decreases with the increase of . It must be
pointed out that in obtaining these results it is assumed that there is no slippage at the interface.

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Figure 3.32 Uniformly loaded circular area in a two-layered soil. (Note:

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru

Chidanand Jadar 15CV53
Asst. Prof

Figure 3.33 Vertical stress below the center line of a uniformly loaded (vertical) circular area in a
twolayered system. (After D. M. Burmister, Evaluation of Pavement Systems of WASHO Road
Testing Layered system Method, Highway Research Board, Bulletin 177, 1958.

Civil Engg Dept. AIT-Bengaluru