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STRESSESINSOIL
Stressesatapointinasoillayerarecausedby:
1 Selfweightofthesoil layers(Geostatic
Stresses)
2 Addedload (Suchasbuildings,bridges,dams,
t ) etc.)
Stressesatapointinasoilmassaredividedinto
twomaintypes: yp
I GeostaticStresses Duetotheselfweight
ofthesoilmass.
II ExcessStresses Fromstructures
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By: Kamal Tawfiq, Ph.D., P.E. By: Kamal Tawfiq, Ph.D., P.E.
DistributedLoads
StripLoads(L/B>9)
WallFootings
b k Embankements
CircularLoads(R)
StorageTanks
RectangularLoads(BxL)
SpreadFootings
MatFoundations
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I.Geostaticstresses
I.A.VerticalStress
Verticalgeostaticstressesincreasewithdepth,
Thereare3typesofgeostaticstresses:
a.TotalStress,
total
b. EffectiveStress,'
c. PoreWaterPressure,u ,
TotalStress=Effectivestress+PoreWaterPressure

total
=' +u
I.B.HorizontalStressorLateralStress

h
=K
o
'
v
K
o
=LateralEarthPressureCoefficient
Fornormallyconsolidatedsoils:
K = 1 Sin K
o
=1 Sin
Foroverconsolidatedsoils:
K
o
=(1 Sin)(OCR)
Sin
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II.StressDistributioninSoilMass:
Wh l i l d h lf di Whenapplyingaloadonahalfspacemedium
theexcessstressesinthesoilwilldecrease
withdepth.
Likeinthegeostaticstresses,therearevertical
andlateralexcessstresses.
1.VerticalStressDuetoaPointLoad
Boussinesq'ssolutionforelasticbehaviour
Boussinesq(1885)solvedtheproblemofstressdistributionatany
point(X)ina:
semiinfinitehalfspace (infiniteindepth)of
Homogenous (samesoilpropertieswithdepth),
isotropic (samesoilpropertiesinall
directions)and
elastic (fullyrecoverablystrains)material
asaresultofapointload(Q)appliedonthesurface:
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PointLoadStresses
X
I
z
Q
R 2
Qz 3
) z / r ( 1
1
z 2
Q 3
2 5
3
2 / 5
2 2
z
=

+
=
where I is an influence factor, and
( )

+ + +

=

2 / 1 2 2 2 2 2 / 3 2 2
) z r ( z z r
1
) z r (
z
2 1
2
Q
( )
2 / 5
2
z / r 1
1
2
3
I

+ + +

=
2 / 1 2 2 2 2 2 / 5 2 2
2
r
) z r ( z z r
2 1
) z r (
z r 3
2
Q
is the Poissons ratio
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Boussinesq'ssolution
where
Q =surfacepointload
z =depthofthepointX belowQ
r =thehorizontaldistanceofpointX fromQ
I
p
=pointloadinfluencefactorforverticalstress
change change
(availableinstandardtablesorcharts)
I
p
= Influence factor for the point load
Knowing r/z ----- Ip can be obtained from tables
Influence factors for vertical stress increase due to a point load (Craig, 1997).
r/z I r/z I r/z I
0.0 0.478 0.8 0.139 1.6 0.020
0.1 0.466 0.9 0.108 1.7 0.016
0.2 0.433 1.0 0.084 1.8 0.013
0.3 0.385 1.1 0.066 1.9 0.011
0.4 0.329 1.2 0.051 2.0 0.009
0.5 0.273 1.3 0.040 2.2 0.006
0.6 0.221 1.4 0.032 2.4 0.004
0.7 0.176 1.5 0.025 2.6 0.003
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2.VerticalStressUnderCornerofaRectangularArea
CarryingUniformPressure
Theverticalstressatadepthzbelowthecornerofa
rectangularareasubjecttouniformpressureis
z(orv) =q.I
Ror
q.I
p
v = q. I
p
q
p
where where
q is the bearing pressure and q is the bearing pressure and
I
p
is the influence factor,
B: width of the loaded area,
L: Length of the loaded area.
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4.ForaCircularLoadedArea
Th ti l t (b th t ) Theexcessverticalstress(beneathcentre)
qistheuniformlydistributedpressure onthe
circulararea
p or z = q. I
q= surface contact pressure
z= depth
r= radius of uniformly
loaded area.
x= horizontal distance from
the center of the circular
area.
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5.The2:1Method
Anapproximate,butverysimplewayoflookingat the
vertical stress distribution with depth verticalstressdistributionwithdepth.
It assumes thattheinfluenceoftheloadareaspreads
at2:1(1horizontalto2vertical)and
thatthesamepressureisthendistributedoverthe
largerarea thesocalled2:1method.
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Theapproximatemethodisreasonablyaccurate
(comparedwithBoussinesqselasticsolution)when
z>B.
Approximatemethodforrectangularloads
Inpreliminaryanalysesofverticalstressincrease
underthecenterofrectangularloads,
h i l i f geotechnicalengineersoftenusean
approximatemethod(sometimescalledthe2:1
method).
The vertical stress increase under the center of Theverticalstressincreaseunderthecenterof
theloadis
) z L )( z B (
BL q
s
z
+ +
=