A RIGID DISC EMBEDDED IN AN ELASTIC HALF SPACE

A GENERAL METHOD OF SOLUTION IS PRESENTED FOR THE COMPLETE DETERMINATION OF THE STRESS AND DISPLACEMENT FIELDS IN A HOMOGENEOUS, ISOTROPIC ELASTIC HALF-SPACE DUE TO THE VERTICAL DISPLACEMENT OF A BURIED RIGID DISC OF ARBITRARY SHAPE. THE SOLUTION IS DEVELOPED AS AN INTEGRAL EQUATION, BASED ON MINDLIN'S "EMBEDDED POINT LOAD" SOLUTION, WHICH IS THEN SOLVED NUMERICALLY. SPECIFIC RESULTS, FOR A RANGE OF BURIAL DEPTHS, ARE GIVEN FOR CIRCULAR AND RECTANGULAR DISCS. THE RESULTS AGREE CLOSELY WITH ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS AVAILABLE FOR COMPARABLE SURFACE DISCS. /AUTHOR/