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Rigid rectangular footing on an elastic layer

Article  in  Géotechnique · January 1989

DOI: 10.1680/geot.1989.39.1.147

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Dempsey, J. P. & Li, H. (1989). GCotechnique 39, No. 1, 147-152

TECHNICAL NOTE

A rigid rectangular footing on an elastic layer

J. P. DEMPSEY* and H. LI*

KEYWORDS: bearing capacity; elasticity; footings/ method. Extensive numerical results for a point
foundations; settlement; soil-structure interaction; load on a layer were provided by Poulos (1967).
stress analysis.

NOTATION FORMULATION
a, b side lengths of the footing Figure 1 shows an elastic layer of depth d
d layer depth bonded to a rigid base at the lower surface. On
Ef modulus of elasticity of the layer top of the layer is a rigid rectangular footing with
JO zero order Bessel function of first kind side lengths a and b. The contact between the
NE number of elements layer and the footing is assumed frictionless. By
NX number of elements in x direction using the point load solution given by Burmister
NY number of elements in y direction (1956), the footing indentation 6 can be written
total load
P&j pressure between footing and layer
footing indentation
S=7
1 - “; ai2 b/2
P(u, u)f(x, Y; u, 4 du du (1)
f 5 -o/Z 5b/2
"f Poisson ratio of the layer
for
INTRODUCTION
The contact problem of a rigid rectangular
footing on an elastic layer under symmetric
loading is solved in this Note. The contact
between the layer and the footing is assumed fric-
tionless. The lower surface of the layer is bonded
to a rigid base. The fundamental point load solu- where p(x, y) is the contact pressure and
tion for an elastic layer was given by Burmister
(1956). The elasticity solutions presented here 1 * N,
f(x, y; 4 4 = -&
should be useful in the design and analysis of rec- s 00,
tangular footings.
The exact solution of the title problem is not 43 - u)z + (Y - m1’2 da (2)
available in the literature. There are, however, x Jo d
1 I
solutions for some special cases available for
comparison. The solutions for a rigid rectangular N, = 1 - 4u[,e-2” - em4’ (3)
footing on an elastic half-space (a layer of infinite D, = 1 + (cf-’ + [f)e-2’
depth) can be found in papers by Noble (1960),
Gorbunov-Passadov & Serebrjanyi (1961), Boro- + 4a2cf eC20r + ee4’ (4)
dachev & Galin (1974), Borodachev (1976),
Brothers, Sinclair & Segedin (1977), Panek & if = l/(3 - 4”f) (5)
Kalker (1977), Mullan, Sinclair & Brothers (1980), and vf and E, are Poisson’s ratio and Young’s
Fabrikant (1986), and Li & Dempsey (1988b). The modulus of the foundation, respectively. (In the
solutions for a rigid strip (a footing with an infin- paper by Burmister (1956) the term 3 - 4~, - c
ite aspect ratio) on an elastic layer can be found in equation (4) should be 3 - 4~, + c.)
in papers by Smith (1962), Aleksandrov (1968), By using the relation A 5; J,(h) da = 1, equa-
and Li & Dempsey (1988a). Numerical results for tion (2) can also be written as
a rectangular footing on a layer were obtained by
Fraser & Wardle (1976) using the finite element 1
f(x,Y;u,u) =
x[(x - u)’ + (y - u)2]1’2
Discussion on this Technical Note closes on 3 July
1989. For further details, see p. ii. C(x- 4’ + (Y - u)211'2 (6)

* Clarkson University, NY. d

147
148 DEMPSEY AND LI

where c = 1 - z/d,

&, Y, z; 4 4

-1 G [(u - x)2 + (v - y)2-j”2

b ZX- (10)
2nd2 a d

Fig. 1. Rigid rectangular footing on elastic layer

G,(t) =
s
0
"M
2
Da
M, = e~(l-c)a[l
cd,@) da

+ (1 - c)a]
(11)

+ e-(l+c)a[(l + &‘)/2 + (1 + c)

x a + 2ccr2]<, + e-(3-c)u
where

s
x [( 1 + i; 2)/2 - (1 + c)a + 2~~1~31,
"N-D
F,(t) = - J,(m) da (7) + e-(3+cL[1 - (1 - c)a]
0 D, (12)

The first term in equation (6) corresponds to the The evaluation of G,(t) is discussed in Appendix 1.
well-known Boussinesq solution for an elastic
half-space; the second term, which depends on
the layer depth d and on Poisson’s ratio vr, can
be considered as a correcting term. The function NUMERICAL SOLUTION
F,(t) is plotted in Fig. 2 for different values of vr. The contact pressure is singular at the edges
This is a well behaved function and asymptotes to and corners of a rigid footing; for smooth contact
- l/t for large t. The results are obtained by using conditions, the singularities are asymptotic to
the method outlined in Appendix 1. The second p-o.5 for the edges (Dundurs & Lee, 1972) and
term disappears as the layer depth approaches P -cl for the corners (p is a local co-ordinate).
infinity. Rvachev (1959), Baiant (1974) Borodachev
Vertical force equilibration requires that (1976), and Morrison & Lewis (1976) deduced
values of a of 0.686, 0.7034, 0.6996 and 0.7034,
012 b/2
P= p(u, u) du dv respectively.
(8)
s -0/Z s -b/2 The above contact pressure singularities must
be taken into account to ensure accurate numeri-
where P is the total load applied.
cal results. The method used in this Note is to
Once the contact pressure on the top surface
discretize the contact region according to Gauss-
has been found, the stress distributions within the
Chebyshev quadrature, which treats inverse-
layer can all be calculated by using the formulae
square-root edge singularities. As shown in Fig. 3,
given by Burmister (1956). In particular, the verti-
the plate is divided into N, elements such that,
cal stress ez can be calculated as
for element j
012 b/2
cz(x, Y, 4 = P(u> 4
s -n/2 s -b/2
x dx, Y, z; u, 4 du dv (9)

-2.01 I I I I
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0.0 1-o 2.0 3.0
I y/b

Fig. 2. Function F,(t) defined in equation (7) Fig. 3 Discretization scheme, N, = 12 and N, = 18
 RIGID RECTANGULAR FOOTING ON ELASTIC LAYER 149
Table 1. Convergence study, (6/u)E,/(l - I$)&, vf = N,, N, are the numbers of elements in the x, y
0.3, b/a = 1, N, = N, directions; and i,, i,, j,, j, are the sequential
numbers in the two directions. Next, the contact
pressure p(x, y) is assumed constant in each
element. In this way, equation (1) gives rise to the
following system of linear equations

j$lBijp,=d,i= 1,2 ,..., N, (16)

where
where
f(xi, yi; u, r) dn dr (17)

(14)
and yj is the centre pressure in element j. On sub-
stitutmg equation (6) into equation (17), the
second term can be integrated numerically using
Gauss quadrature since F, is a well-behaved func-
The compatibility condition is enforced at the tion; the first term can be integrated analytically
element centres, defined as because

4 (2i;Nlb

I
xi = CO6

= &j, 0

yi= ; COS a+ Y
(15)

where
+ 44, 4 - W, 4 - 4(i, r) (18)

4(x, y) = x log [(x2 + y*p* + yl

+ y log [(x2 + y2p2 + xl (19)
From the equilibrium condition of equation (8)

4” (20)
il.S- j$,AjPj=p
r
I * l.Noble(1960)
2 /
v
x 2,Botodachev&Galin(1974) where A, is the area of element j. Once 6 or P is
Lu o 3 Fraser&Wardle(l976)
3ml-z- i @S,3,6 v4.Brothersetal.(1977)
given, the N, + 1 unknowns can be found from
- o 5. Panek&Kalker(1977) equations (16) and (20).
d &Fabrikant(1966)
This method of adaptive discretization has the
0.6 1,3,4,6 , 1,, , feature that, if the function p(x, y) is proportional
0 2 4 6 a 10 12
bla
to {[l - (2x/a)*][l - (2y/b)*]}-I/*, the integra-
tion of p(x, y) in each element contributes the
Fig. 4. Comparison of indentation values same amount. Thus the increasing rate of change
of the function near the edges has been taken into
account. However, the pressure singularities at
the corners are overestimated since they are less
singular than p-l. From the convergence study
described, the numerical errors produced by such
an overestimation are minimal except in cases of
very shallow layers.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The convergence of the suggested method is
examined by calculating the footing indentation
using different numbers of elements. The results
0.01 I J
are given in Table 1. It can be seen that the con-
-0.50 -0.25 0.0 0.25 0.50
v/b x/a vergence is fast and stable. For the case of a layer
Fig. 5. Surface contact pressure for different aspect of infinite depth, Noble (1960) proved that the
indentations obtained are the upper limits.
150 DEMPSEY AND LI

_ [Y-o]/
x=0
bla = 3
d/a = 1
0.8

2
6
3
x
b 0.4

o.oL
-1.50 -1.0 -0.5 o-o 0.5
0.0
-2.0 -1.0 0.0 1.0
via x/a Y/a x/a
Fig. 6. Surface contact pressure for different layer depths Fig. 7. Vertical stress within the layer

Figure 4 shows the indentation of a rectangular
footing on an elastic half-space, compared with
other numerical results given in various papers.
The values given by Fabrikant (1986) are based
on formulae applicable to general polygons. The
values given by Borodachev & Galin (1974) and
Panek & Kalker (1977) are valid for narrow rec-
tangles. The values given by Noble (1960), Fraser
& Wardle (1976), and Brothers et al. (1977) were
obtained by using a variational method, the finite
element method, and a singularity method,
respectively. The results given below for a plate
with an infinitely large aspect ratio are calculated
from the corresponding plane strain problem (Li
& Dempsey, 1988a): these can be used as the lim-
iting cases for plates with large aspect ratios.
Figure 5 shows the contact pressure distribu-
tions for different aspect ratios with fixed layer
depth, d = a. Fig. 6 shows the contact pressure
distributions for different layer depths with a
fixed aspect ratio, b = 3~2. From these two dia-
grams it can be seen that the pressure distribu-
tions are similar in the x and y directions, and
that the solution for an infinitely long strip is the
limiting case for a plate with a large aspect ratio.
The vertical stress distributions within the layer
are given in Fig. 7 for different levels with a fixed
layer depth and aspect ratio. The singular surface
pressure decays quickly within the layer. Signifi-
cantly, the maximum vertical stress under the
centre is not at the surface.
The rigid footing indentations and the centre
contact pressures are given in Tables 2 and 3 for
different combinations of aspect ratios, layer
depths and Poisson ratios. The values are inde-
pendent of Poisson ratio for an elastic half-space
(d/a + co). As the layer depth decreases, the
strength of the pressure singularity decreases near
the edges. This causes the pressure to increase in
the centre, since the ratio of the total pressure to
the load must remain the same. Therefore, the
ratio of the centre pressure to the average pres-
sure gives a general idea of pressure distribution.
Table 2 shows that the centre pressures are less
than the average pressure in most cases. It has
also been established that the surface indenta-

Table 2. Centre contact pressure, p(0, O)/p,,(r = b/a)

dla r=l r = 1.5 r=2 r=3 r=5

0.3 0.7988 0.8301 0.8456 0.8597 0.8737 0.8950

1.0 0.5385 0.5712 0.5997 0.6362 0.6660 0.7105
3.0 0.4877 0.4935 0.5024 0.5210 0.5527 06466
10.0 0.4850 0.4886 0.4947 0.5067 0.5241 0.6375

0.3 0.8366 0.8653 0.8792 0.8906 0.9020 0.9184

1.0 0.5503 0.5880 0.6195 0.6574 0.6852 0.7229
3.0 0.4884 0.4948 0.5044 0.5245 0.5588 0.6485
10.0 0.4850 0.4886 0.4948 0.5068 0.5245 0.6377

0.5 0.3 ldIO45 1.0612 1.0922 1.1164 1.1076 1.0327

1.0 0.5819 0.6342 0.6756 0.7233 0.7555 0.7567
3.0 0.4902 0.498 1 0.5095 0.5337 0.5753 0.6536
10.0 0.4850 0.4887 0.4950 0.5071 0.5254 0.6382

co 0.4849 0.4884 0.4945 0.5062 0.5227 0.6366

 RIGID RECTANGULAR FOOTING ON ELASTIC LAYER 151
Table 3. Displacements, @/a)E,/(l - v:)p_,(r = b/a)

“f dla r=l r = 1.5 r=2 r=3 r=5 r-+w

0.1 0.3 0.2396 0.2479 0.2522 0.2567 0.2606 0.2668
1.0 0.5292 0.5795 06078 0.6388 0.6659 0.7121
3.0 0.7389 0.8625 0.9458 1.0496 1.1508 1.3437
10.0 0.8284 0.9947 1.1183 1.2948 1.5088 2.1010
0.3 0.3 0.2112 0.2166 0.2195 0.2224 0.2252 0.2289
1.0 0.4989 0.5404 0.5629 0.5869 0.6074 06418
3.0 0.7252 0.8425 0.9200 1.0141 1.1022 1.2619
10.0 0.8241 0.9883 1.1097 1.2821 1.4883 2.0175
0.5 0.3 0.1059 0.0959 0.0899 0.0835 0.0787 0.0725
1.0 04075 0.4200 0.4217 0.4182 04099 0.3921
3.0 0.6851 0.7839 0.8442 0.9089 0.9549 0.9822
10.0 0.8116 0.9696 1.0849 1.2452 1.4283 1.7332
cc 0.8678 1.0537 1.1968 1.4122 1.7020 co

tions presented by Fraser 8z Wardle (1976) for the The method used in this Note is to search the values of
two cases a = b and a = 2b are comparable with a,, b, successively in order to minimize the error, E,
those in Table 3. defined as
When the layer depth is small (d/a = 0*3), the
indentations for an incompressible material (vr = E = T Cf(aj) -f(ccj)]*, 0 < aj < L (23)
j=1
0.5) are much smaller than those for other
Poisson ratios and also decrease for increasing Because_@) decays as aZeCZa,only a finite region needs
aspect ratios. This is because the stiffness increase to be considered (in this case 0 < a & 20). With M, = 6,
due to the bonded contact at the rigid base is M, = 401, the constants obtained are presented in
greater than the stiffness decrease due to the Table 4. Then the integral in equation (7) can be evaEu-
ated by using
higher aspect ratio.
m
e-“‘/,(ba) da = (a2 + b2)-I’* (24)
s0
APPENDIX 1
The function F=(z) in equation (7) can be evaluated in a”e-““J,(ba) da = (- 1)”z (a* + b2)-‘/2 (25)
a way similar to that used by Burmister (1943). The
exact function The function G,(t) in equation (11) may be approx-
imated in the same way. However, the numerator M, in
f(a) = (N, - DA/D, (21) the function G*(t) of equation (11) contains the vertical
is approximated by co-ordinate z. Therefore, instead of approximating
MJD, for many different z values, l/D. may be approx-
imated and then multiplied with M,. This can be done
(22)
using the same technique as for f(a). However, the

Table 4. Coefficients in equation (22) forf(a)

Vf = 0 Vf = 0.1 vt = 0.2 vt = 0.3 vt = 0.4 vt = 0.5

al - 1.001 - 1.002 - 1.002 - 1.003 - 1.003 - 1.003

b, 6.295 6444 6.643 6.937 7.294 7.773
a2 -5.814 - 5.901 - 6.064 - 6.293 - 6.700 - 7.394
b, 1.959 1.930 1.879 1.857 1.808 1.746
a3 10.24 10.03 9.979 10.10 10.75 11.81
b, 5.684 5.510 5.321 5.131 4.875 4.559
a4 6.030 7.129 8.052 8.790 9.052 9.279
b, 5.326 5.055 4.821 4.590 4.359 4.087
a5 15.75 15.91 15.93 15.87 15.77 15.75
b, 4.272 4.245 4.218 4.189 4.159 4.136
a6 201.1 222.5 258.6 347.8 465.8 879.8
4, 9.144 9.468 9.924 10.50 11.22 12.78
152 DEMPSEY AND LI

Table 5. Coefficients in equation (22) for l/D,

“f = 0.1 YI = 0.2 Yy= 0.3 V‘= 0.4 Vf = 0.5

-0.9122 -0.8810 -0.8617 -0-8679 -0.9171

0.9124 0.8768 0.8309 o-7755 0.7108
22.157 4.9301 1.4062 4.3420 9.1477
93645 71.289 18.147 21.314 22.366
27.109 16.620 7.8894 8.4693 12.731
15601 13,264 9.4336 7.7736 7.2637
10995 11205 9667.7 5948.1 - 499.94
64.977 63.853 65.719 74.836 45.397

numerical error is greater, for this case since l/D, is less a sharp edge in contact problem. J. Elast. 2, 10%
suitable for the method. For M, = 4, the constants are 112.
given in Table 5. Fabrikant, V. I. (1986). Flat punch of arbitrary shape on
This method allows the evaluation of F=(t) in equa- an elastic half-space. Int. J. Engng Sci. 24, 1731-
tion (7) and G,(t) in equation (11) to be completed ana- 1740.
lytically once the approximations have been completed. Fraser, R. A. & Wardle (1976). Numerical analysis of
Thus the numerical difficulties in evaluating the inte- rectangular rafts on layered foundations. Gkotech-
grals containing the oscillatory Bessel functions over an nique 26, No. 4,6 13-630.
infinite region have been removed. Gorbunov-Passadov, M. I. & Serebrjanyi, R. V. (1961).
Design of structures on elastic foundation. Proc. 5th
Conf. Soil Mech. 1,643+?48.
Li, H. & Dempsey, J. P. (1988a). Unbonded contact of a
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