Shahrood University of Technology

Department of Geotechnical Engineering

Advanced Foundation Engineering

Vertical Stress increase in soil

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
1
 Introduction
The allowable settlement of a shallow foundation may control the
allowable bearing capacity. The allowable settlement itself may be
controlled by local building codes. Thus, the allowable bearing capacity
will be the smaller of the following two conditions:

For the calculation of foundation settlement, it is

required that we estimate the vertical stress
increase in the soil mass due to the net load
applied on the foundation.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 2

Stress Due to a Concentrated Load
In 1885, Boussinesq developed the mathematical relationships for
determining the normal and shear stresses at any point inside
homogeneous, elastic, and isotropic mediums due to a concentrated point
load located at the surface.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 3

Stress Due to a Circularly Loaded Area
The Boussinesq can also be used to determine the vertical stress below the
center of a flexible circularly loaded area. Let the radius of the loaded area
be B/2, and let q0 be the uniformly distributed load per unit area.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 4

 Stress Due to a Circularly Loaded Area
Similar integrations could be performed to obtain the vertical stress increase
at A’, located a distance r from the center of the loaded area at a depth z
(Ahlvin and Ulery, 1962).

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 5

 Stress Due to a Line Load
Vertical flexible line load of infinite length that has an intensity q/(unit length)
on the surface of a semi-infinite soil mass.
The vertical stress increase, , inside the soil mass can be determined by
using the principles of the theory of elasticity, or

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 6

 Stress Due to a Line Load
The value of  does not include the overburden pressure of the soil above
point A.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 7

Stress below a Vertical Strip Load (Finite Width and
Infinite Length)
The fundamental equation for the vertical stress increase at a point A in soil
mass as the result of a line load can be used to determine the vertical stress
at A point caused by a flexible strip load of width B.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 8

Stress below a Vertical Strip Load (Finite Width and
Infinite Length)

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 9

Stress below a Vertical Strip Load (Finite Width and
Infinite Length)

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 10

Stress below a Rectangular Area
The integration technique of Boussinesq’s equation
also allows the vertical stress at any point A below the
corner of a flexible rectangular loaded area to be
evaluated.
To do so, consider an elementary area dA=dx.dy on the
flexible loaded area.
If the load per unit area is q0, the total load on the
elemental area is:

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 11

Stress below a Rectangular Area

• The arctangent term in must be a positive angle in radians.

• When , it becomes a negative angle. So a term  should
be added to that angle.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 12

Stress below a Rectangular Area

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 13

Stress below a Rectangular Area
To determine the stress at a depth z below point O, divide the loaded area into four
rectangles, with O the corner common to each. The total stress increase caused by the
entire loaded area may now be expressed as:

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 14

Stress below a Rectangular Area
In most cases, the vertical stress below the center of a rectangular area is of importance.
This can be given by the relationship:

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 15

Stress below a Rectangular Area
Foundation engineers often use an approximate method to determine the increase in
stress with depth caused by the construction of a foundation. The method is referred to
as the 2:1 method. According to this method, the increase in stress at depth z is:

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 16

Stress Isobars
It is possible to determine
the variation of /q at 0

various points below a

strip load of width B and
square BB loaded area
measuring. The results can
be used to plot stress
isobars:

Contours of /qo Contours of /qo below

below a strip load the center line of a square
loaded area (BB)
Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 17
 Average Vertical Stress Increase Due to a Rectangularly
Loaded Area
In many cases, one must find the
average stress increase, av, below
the corner of a uniformly loaded
rectangular area with limits of z=0 to
z=H.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 18

Average Vertical Stress Increase Due to a Rectangularly
Loaded Area

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 19

Average Vertical Stress Increase Due to a Rectangularly
Loaded Area
In estimating the consolidation settlement under a foundation, it may be required
to determine the average vertical stress increase in only a given layer—that is,
between z=H1 and z=H2, This can be done as (Griffiths, 1984)

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 20

Average Vertical Stress Increase Due to a Rectangularly
Loaded Area
In most practical cases, however, we will need to determine the average stress
increase between z=H1 and z=H2 below the center of a loaded area.
The loaded area can be divided into four rectangular areas measuring B’*L’ (Note:
B’= B/2 and L’=L/2), and the point O is the common corner for each of the four
rectangles.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 21

Average Vertical Stress Increase Due to a Rectangularly
Loaded Area
Another approximate procedure to determine av(H2/H1) is to use the
relationship:

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 22

Stress Increase under an Embankment

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 23

Stress Increase under an Embankment

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 24

Westergaard’s Solution for Vertical Stress Due to a Point
Load
Westergaard (1938) has proposed a solution for the determination of the
vertical stress due to a point load P in an elastic solid medium in which
there exist alternating layers with thin rigid reinforcements.
This type of assumption may be an idealization of a clay layer with thin
seams of sand.

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 25

Westergaard’s Solution for Vertical Stress Due to a Point
Load

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 26

Westergaard’s Solution for Vertical Stress Due to a Point
Load

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 27

Westergaard’s Solution for Vertical Stress Due to a Point
Load

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 28

Westergaard’s Solution for Vertical Stress Due to a Point
Load

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 29

Westergaard’s Solution for Vertical Stress Due to a Point
Load

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 30

Problems:
Principles of Foundation Engineering, Braja M. Das, Eighth Edition 2016.

₋ 6.2
₋ 6.3
₋ 6.8
₋ 6.9
₋ 6.10
₋ 6.11

Mohsen Keramati, Ph.D. , Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, 31