Chapter One

Stresses in Soils from Surface Loads

1. Introduction
Various types of loads are applied to soils. For example, an oil tank will impose a uniform circular,
vertical stress on the surface of the soil while an unsymmetrical building may impose a non-uniform
vertical stress. We would like to know how the surface stresses are distributed within the soil mass
and the resulting deformations.

The distribution of surface stresses within a soil is determined by assuming that the soil is a semi-
infinite, homogeneous, linear, isotropic, elastic material. A semi-infinite mass is bounded on one
side and extends infinitely in all other directions; this is also called an “elastic half space.” For soils,
the horizontal surface is the bounding side. Equations and charts for several types of surface loads based
on the above assumptions are presented in this chapter.

When you finish this chapter, you should be able to:

Calculate stresses in soils (assuming elastic behavior) from external loads.

1.1 Definitions of key Terms

Stress or intensity of loading is the load per unit area. The fundamental definition of a stress is the ratio
of the force ΔP acting on a plane to the area of the plane ΔS when ΔS tends to zero; Δ denotes a small
quantity.

Strain or intensity of deformation is the ratio of the change in dimension to the original dimension
or the ratio of change in length to the original length.

Sample Practical Situation Two storage tanks are to be founded on a deep layer of stiff saturated
clay. Your client and the mechanical engineer, who is designing the pipe works, need an estimate of
the settlement of the tanks when they are completely filled. Because of land restrictions, your client
desires that the tanks be as close as possible to each other. You should realize that if two separate
foundations are placed too close to each other, the stresses in the soil induced by each foundation
overlap and cause intolerable tilting of the structures and their foundations.

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 1.2. Stresses and Strains

1.2.1. Normal Stresses and Strains

Consider a cube of dimensions x = y = z that is subjected to forces Px, Py, Pz, normal to the
three adjacent sides as shown in Fig. 1.1.

The normal stresses are:

Let as assume that under these forces the cube compresses by x, y, and z in the X, Y, and Z
directions. The strains in these directions, assuming they are small (infinitesimal), are:

1.2.2 Volumetric Strain

The volumetric strain which is the sum of strains in X, Y,and Z direction is expressed as follows:

1.2.3 Shear Stresses and Shear Strains

Let us consider, for simplicity, the XZ plane and apply a force F that causes the square to distort into a
parallelogram as shown in Fig. 1.2. The force F is a shearing force and the shear stress is expressed as
follows:

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 The simple shear strain, also called engineering shear strain, is a measure of the angular
distortion of a body by shearing forces. If the horizontal displacement is Dx, the shear
strain or simple shear strain, γzx , is expressed as:

For small strains tanγzx=γzx and therefore,

If the shear stress on a plane is zero, the normal stress on that plane is called a principal stress. In
geotechnical engineering, compressive stresses in soils are assumed to be positive. Soils cannot
sustain any appreciable tensile stresses and we normally assume that the tensile strength of soils is
negligible. Strains can be compressive or tensile.

Figure 1.2: Shear stresses and shear strains.

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 1.3 Stresses in Soil from Surface Loads

1.3.1 Point Load

Boussinesq (1885) presented a solution for the distribution of stresses for a point load applied on the
soil surface. An example of a point load is the vertical load transferred to the soil from an electric
power line pole. The increases in stresses on a soil element located at point A (Fig. 1.3a) due to a point
load, Q, are:

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Equations (1.10) to (1.13) represent the same stresses in terms of the angle  and depth z.

Where  is Poisson’s ratio. Most often, the increase in vertical stress is needed in practice. Equation
(1.6) can be written as:

Where I is an influence factor, and

The distribution of the increase in vertical stress from Eq. (1.14) reveals that the increase in
vertical stress decreases with depth (Fig. 1.3 b) and radial distance (Fig.1.3c).

EXAMPLE 1.1

A pole carries a vertical load of 200 kN. Determine the vertical stress increase at a depth 5 m (a)
directly below the pole and (b) at a radial distance of 2 m.

EXAMPLE 1.2

Under a concentrated vertical load of 100 kN, determine:

a) The distribution of σz on horizontal planes at depths of 1 m, 2 m, and 3 m below the
ground surface - vary r/z from 0.0 to 3.0 in 0.25 increments,
b) The distribution of σz on the vertical planes at 1 m, 2 m, and 3 m from the applied
concentrated load and the position of the maximum vertical stress on these planes - vary z
in 0.5 m increments up to 6 m.

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1.3.2 Line Load
With reference to Fig. 1.4a, the increase in stresses due to a line load, Q (force/length), are:

A practical example of line load is the load from a long brick wall.

1.3.3 Line Load Near a Buried Earth Retaining Structure

The increase in lateral stress on a buried earth retaining structure (Fig. 1.4b) due to a line load of
intensity Q (force/length) is:

The increase in lateral force is:

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1.3.4 Strip Load
A strip load is the load transmitted by a structure of finite width and infinite length on a soil surface. Two
types of strip loads are common in geotechnical engineering. One is a load that imposes a uniform stress on
the soil, for example, the middle section of a long embankment (Fig. 1.5a). The other is a load that induces a
triangular stress distribution over an area of width B (Fig. 1.5b). An example of a strip load with a triangular
stress distribution is the stress under the side of an embankment. The increases in stresses due to a
surface stress qs (force/area) are as follows:

Figure 1.5: Strip load imposing (a) a uniform stress and (b) a linearly varying stress. (c) Strip load
near a retaining wall and (b) lateral force near a retaining wall from a strip load.

(a) Area transmitting a uniform stresses (Fig. 1.5a)

where qs is the applied surface load.

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(b) Area transmitting triangular stress (Fig. 1.5b)

(c) Area transmitting triangular stress (Fig. 1.5c, d)

The lateral force and its location were derived by Jarquio (1981) and are expressed as follows:-

where

1.3.5 Uniformly Loaded Circular Area

An example of circular area that transmits stresses to a soil mass in a circular foundation of an oil
or water tank. The increase in vertical and radial stresses under a circular area of radial distance
ro are articulated as follows:

Where: Ic is an influence factor

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 and the increase in radial stress is:

The vertical elastic settlement at the surface of due to a circular flexible loaded area is:

Where D=2ro is the diameter of the loaded area.

1.3.6 Uniformly Loaded Rectangular Area

Many structural foundations are rectangular or approximately rectangular in shape. The increase
in stresses below the corner of a rectangular area of width B and length L are:

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These equations can be written as
follows:

Where I denotes the influence factor. The influence factor for the vertical stress is

where m= B/ z and n= L /z . You can program your calculator or use a spreadsheet to find Iz.
You must be careful in the last term (tan-1) in programming. If m2 + n2 +1 < m2n2 , then you
have to add P to the quantity in the last term. In general, the vertical stress increase is less than
10% of the surface stress when z > 3B. The vertical elastic settlement at the ground surface under
a rectangular surface load is:

Where Is is a settlement influence factor that is a function of the L/B ratio (L is length and B is
width). Setting ξs =L /B , the equations for Is are:

At center of a rectangle (Giroud, 1968):

At corner of a rectangle (Giroud, 1968):

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The above equations can be simplified to the following for ξs > 1.

1.3.7 Approximate Method for Rectangular Loads

In preliminary analyses of vertical stress increases under the center of rectangular loads,
geotechnical engineers often use an approximate method (sometimes called the 2:1 method). The
surface load on an area, BxL , is dispersed at a depth z over an area (B + z)x (L + z) as illustrated
in Fig. 1.6.

The vertical load increase under the center of the rectangle is:

EXAMPLE 1.3

A rectangular concrete slab, 3 m×4.5 m, rests on the surface of a soil mass (Fig. E1.3). The load
on the slab is 2025 kN. Determine the vertical stress increase at a depth of 3 m (a) under the
center of the slab, point A, (b) under point B, and (c) at a distance of 1.5 m from a corner, point C.

Strategy: The slab is rectangular and the equations for a uniformly loaded rectangular area are
for the corner of the area. You should divide the area so that the point of interest is the corner of
a rectangle(s). You may have to extend the loaded area if the point of interest is outside it
(loaded area). The extension is fictitious so you have to subtract the fictitious increase in stress
for the extended area.

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 Figure E1.3

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1.3.8 Vertical Stress below Arbitrarily Shaped Area

Figure 1.7: Newmark's chart for increase in vertical stress.

Newmark (1942) developed a chart to determine the increase in vertical stress due to a uniformly
loaded area of any shape. The chart consists of concentric circles divided by radial lines (Fig.1.7).
The area of each segment represents an equal proportion of the applied surface stress at depth z
below the surface. If there are 10 concentric circles (only 9 are shown because the 10th extends
to infinity) and 20 radial lines, the stress on each circle is qs/10 and on each segment isqs (10x20).
The radius to depth ratio of the first (inner) circle is found by setting Dσz =0.1qs in Eq. (1.30),
that is,

from which r/ z=0.27 . For the other circles, substitute the appropriate value for sz; for example,
for the second circle, sz = 0.2qs , and find r/z . The chart is normalized to the depth; that is, all
dimensions are scaled by a factor initially determined for the depth. Every chart should show a
scale and an influence factor IN, which for our case is 1/(10x20) = 0.005.

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The procedure for using Newmark’s chart is as follows:
1. Set the scale, shown on the chart, equal to the depth at which the increase in vertical stress is required.
We will call this the depth scale.
2. Identify the point on the loaded area below which the stress is required. Let us say this point is point A.
3. Plot the loaded area using the depth scale with point A at the center of the chart.
4. Count the number of segments (Ns) covered by the scaled loaded area. If certain segments are not fully
covered, you can estimate what fraction is covered.
5. Calculate the increase in vertical stress as  z  q s I N N s .

EXAMPLE 1.4

The plan of a foundation of uniform thickness for a building is shown in Fig. E1.4a. Determine
the vertical stress increase at a depth of 4 m below the centroid. The foundation applies a vertical
stress of 200 kPa on the soil surface.

Figure E1.4 a, b

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Strategy: You need to locate the centroid of the foundation, which you can find using the given
dimensions. The shape of the foundation does not fit nearly into one of the standard shapes (e.g.,
rectangles or circles) discussed. The convenient method to use for this (odd) shape foundation is
Newmark’s chart

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Individual Assignment to be submitted

1. A shallow Foundation 25m x 18m carries a uniform pressure of 175kN/m2. Determine the
vertical stress at a point 12m below the midpoint of one of the longer sides.

a. Using influence factors

b. By means of Newmark's chart

2. A line load of 150 kN/m acts 2m behind the sub-surface of an earth retaining structure of
4m high. Calculate the total thrust and plot the distribution of the pressure on the
structure due to the line load.

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