THE USE OF INTEGRAL TRANSFORMS IN SOLVING THREE DIMENSIONAL PROBLEMS IN GEOMECHANICS

Abstract A method is presented which may be used to obtain solutions to geotechnical problems for the case where the soil profile is such that it is similar in one coordinate direction. If this is so, then Fourier transforms may be applied to the field quantities, thus reducing a problem which is essentially three dimensional to one involving only two spatial dimensions. This means great savings in computer storage and data preparation time as well as solution time. Solutions for the field quantities (i.e. displacements and stresses) at any point within the soil mass are found by applying inverse transforms and the required integration is carried out using numerical means. Examples of the application of the technique to common geotechnical problems are given to illustrate the use of the method.