ANALYSIS OF AN INHOMOGENEOUS ELASTIC HALF-SPACE

A FINITE ELEMENT COMPUTER PROGRAM TO SOLVE FOR THE STRESSES AND SETTLEMENTS OF A CIRCULAR LOAD RESTING ON A HALF-SPACE DEFINED BY A SPECIFIC EQUATION IS DESCRIBED. THE COMPUTER RESULTS AGREE WITH THE THEORETICAL ANSWERS IN THOSE CASES FOR WHICH ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS EXIST. THE RESULTS SUPPORT THE FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSES FOR THOSE CASES FOR WHICH NO ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS HAVE BEEN FOUND. A RANGE OF VALUES FOR SOIL DEPOSITS IS PRESENTED. VERTICAL CONTACT STRESS AND CENTER LINE STRESS DISTRIBUTION BENEATH SMOOTH RIGID CIRCULAR PLATE, AND SETTLEMENT OF SMOOTH CIRCULAR LOAD, RIGID OR UNIFORMLY LOADED ARE ALL GRAPHICALLY REPRESENTED. THE ENGINEER MAY USE THESE FIGURES TO ESTIMATE CONDITIONS IN PRACTICAL SITUATIONS. PLOTS FOR STRESSES AND DISPLACEMENTS, RADIAL STRESSES AND THE NONDIMENSIONAL SETTLEMENT PARAMETER ARE DISCUSSED. CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A ROUGH RIGID PLATE AND A SMOOTH RIGID ONE OR BETWEEN A ROUGH OR SMOOTH UNIFORM IS DESCRIBED.