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CH-1
Stress in Soil from
Soil Surface Loads

Mechanics-II 1 2

Introduction Point Load

 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.
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…Point Load( for cylindrical

…Point Load (concentrated load)
coordinate system)
5/2
 Boussinesq (1885) presented a solution for the 3Q  1 
   
distribution of stresses for a point load applied on
z
2 z 2  1  (r / z ) 2 
 
the soil surface.
Q  3r 2 z 1  2 

 An example of a point load is the vertical load  r   2 2

2  (r  z )
2 2 5 / 2
r  z  z(r  z ) 
2 2 1/ 2
transferred to the soil from an electric power line
Q  z 1 
pole.   (12) 2 2 3/2  2 2 
2 1/2 
 The increases in stresses on a soil element located at 2 (r z ) r z z(r z ) 
2

point A due to a point load, Q, are 3Q  rz 2 

 rz   2 
2  (r  z 2 ) 5 / 2 

ef1
…Point Load (Horizontal and
…Point Load
shear stress)
For values of;
 Most often, the increase in vertical stress is needed
in practice. Equation can be written as
Q
z  I
z2
 where I is an influence factor, and
5/ 2
3  1 
I   
2  1  (r / z ) 2 
 
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…Point Load Line Load

…Line Load …Line Load

2Q z 3
 z 
 (x 2  z 2 ) 2
2Q z 3
 z 
 (x 2  z 2 )2

2Q x 2 z
 x 
 (x 2  z 2 )2

2Qx z 2
 zx 
 (x 2  z 2 )2
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…Line Load caused by Horizontal Line Load Near a Buried Earth

Load Retaining Structure
 The increase in lateral stress on a buried earth
retaining structure due to a line load of intensity Q
(force/length) is
4Qa 2 b
 x 
H 0 (a 2  b 2 ) 2
 The increase in lateral force is
2Q
Px 
 (a 2  1)

Strip Load …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.
 The increases in stresses due to a surface stress qs
(force/area) are as follows:
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…Strip Load …Strip Load

Area transmitting a uniform stress Area transmitting triangular stress

 z 
qs
  sin  cos(  2 )  z 
qs  x 
   12 sin 2 
  B 

 x 
qs
  sin  cos(  2 )  x 
q s  x

z R2 
  ln 12  12 sin 2 
  B B R2 

 zx 
qs
sin  sin(  2 )  zx 
qs  2 
1  cos 2  2  
   B 

…Strip Load …Strip Load

Area transmitting rectangular stress near retaining

wall 2q s
 x  (   sin  cos 2 )

 The lateral force and its location were derived by
Jarquio (1981) and are
Px 
qs
H 0 ( 2  1 ) H 02 ( 2  1 )  (R1  R2 )  57.3BH0
z
90 2H 0 ( 2  1 )
 where
 a  a  B
1  tan1 , 2  tan1 ,
 H0   H0 
R1  (a  B) 2 (90  2 ), and R2  a 2 (90  1 )
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…Strip Load 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 of vertical and radial stresses
under a circular area of radius r0 are
   
3/ 2
1
 z  qs 1      qs I c
  1  (r0 z) 2  
 

 Where Ic is an influence factor

  
3/2 
1
I c  1    
  1  ( r0 z ) 2 
 
 

…Uniformly Loaded Circular Area Uniformly Loaded Rectangular Area

 And  Many structural foundations are rectangular or

q  2(1   ) 1  approximately rectangular in shape. The increase in
 r     s (1  2 )   
2 
 1 ( r0 z ) 
2 1/ 2

1  ( r0 z)
2

3/ 2


stresses below the corner of a rectangular area of
width B and length L are
 The vertical elastic settlement at the surface of due
q s  1 LB LBz  1 1 
to a circular flexible loaded area is  z   tan    
2  zR3 R3  R12 R22 

 Below center of loaded area: q D(1   2 )
z  s
E
 Below edge: z  2 q s D(1   ) q s  1 LB LBz 
2
 x   tan  
 E 2  zR3 R12 R3 

 1 LB LBz 
 Where D = 2ro is the diameter of the loaded area.  y 
qs
 tan  
2  zR3 R22 R3 
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…Uniformly Loaded Rectangular …Uniformly Loaded Rectangular

Area Area
qs  B z2B 
 zx 
2
  2 
 R2 R1 R3 
 Where I denotes the influence factor.
 The influence factor for the vertical stress is:
where R1  ( L2  z 2 )1 2 , R2  ( B 2  z 2 )1 2 , and R3  ( L2  B 2  z 2 )1 2
  2mn m 2  n 2  1 
1  2mn m 2  n 2  1  m 2  n 2  2 
 These equations can be written as Iz   tan 1  2 
4  m 2  n 2  m 2 n 2  1  m 2  n 2  1   m  n 2  m 2 n 2  1 
  
 z  q s I z  x  q s I x
 where m=B/z and n=L/z.
 y  q s I y  zx  q s I 

…Uniformly Loaded Rectangular

Area
 The vertical elastic settlement at the ground surface
under a rectangular surface load is
q s B(1   2 )
z  Is
E
 where Is is a settlement influence factor that is a
function of the L/B ratio
 The equations for Is are
 At center of a rectangle (Giroud, 1968):
 1  1   s2 
2 
Is  ln( s  1   s2   s ln
 s 
27
 
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…Uniformly Loaded Rectangular Approximate Method for Rectangular

Area Loads
 At corner of a rectangle (Giroud, 1968):
1  1  1   s2 

Is  ln( s  1   s2   s ln
 s 
 

 Where ξs=L/B
 The above equations can be simplified to the
following for ξ s >=1.
 At center of a rectangle: I s  0.62 ln( s )  1.12
 At corner of a rectangle: I s  0.31 ln( s )  0.56

…Approximate Method for Rectangular Vertical Stress Below Arbitrarily

Loads Shaped Area
 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).
 The vertical load increase under the center of the
rectangle is
q s BL
 z 
( B  z )( L  z )
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Vertical Stress Below Arbitrarily Vertical Stress Below Arbitrarily

Shaped Area Shaped Area
 Newmark (1942) developed a chart to determine the  The radius to depth ratio of the first (inner) circle is
increase in vertical stress due to a uniformly loaded found by setting,
area of any shape.   1  
32

0.1q s  q s 1   2 

 The area of each segment represents an equal  1  (r0 z )  
proportion of the applied surface stress at depth z  From which r/z = 0.27. For the other circles,
below the surface. substitute the appropriate value for ∆σz;
 If there are 10 concentric circles (only 9 are shown  Every chart should show a scale.
because the 10th extends to infinity) and 20 radial
lines, the stress on each circle is qs/10 and on each
segment is qs/(10*20).

Vertical Stress Below Arbitrarily Vertical Stress Below Arbitrarily

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