LIMIT ANALYSIS OF PLANE PROBLEMS IN SOIL MECHANICS

A computer method is developed for failure analysis of plane problems in soil mechanics. It is assumed that the soil obeys the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and that all stresses vary linearly within each element of a triangular mesh which spans the zone under investigation. An optimal statically admissible stress field corresponding to a lower bound solution is isolated by the method of linear programming. The method has been applied to several bearing capacity and earth pressure problems.