Stresses in Soil Mass

Basics
• Every engineer has to ultimately deal with
• A) Forces
• B) Mechanics
• C) Stresses
• D) Strains
• E) Deformation
• This is not only true for man made materials like concrete and steel
but also true for the soil.
• So stress distribution topic needed to be understood very well in
order to design a safe structure.
• We shall study this topic through series of questions and answers
Let us look some of questions
• What is stress distribution?
• Why it is important
• Where it is important?
• What factors govern their distribution?
• What are the methods available for its determination?
What is stress Distribution
• Imagine a structure, a civil engineering structure, it could be
• A multistory building, a tower, or a Dam etc.
• All these have foundations and all these have weights of their own.
• These weights servers as loads and theses loads acts on the
foundation
• The foundation transmits these loads to the soil underneath.
• When loads are transmitted to the soil, the soil experiences stresses
• These stresses should be well within the capacity of the soil to within
stand these stresses without causing distress to the foundation.
• Therefore it is important to know how these stresses are distributed
in the soil.
What is stress Distribution
• When structure is erected on a soil, it transmits its weight as a load to
the foundation.
• The foundation in turn imposes loads on the soil.
• These loads induce stresses inside the soil. The distribution of these
stresses is referred to as stress distribution
• So what we shall be doing during this lecture is to study following
• What are the different types of foundations
• What are the different loads that might come, can we generalize
them? Can we divide them is different categories?
• What could be the possible stress distribution in the soil.
• Why is it important?
The stability of the foundation and safety of the structure depend on
the stress distribution.

• Where it is important?
• It is important for all structure, especially in case of the large
structures in today's context.
What are the factors which effect the stress
distribution
• The stresses developed depend on:
• 1) the nature of loads
• 2) the geometry of the foundation
• 3) the nature of the soil
• 4) The theory/method used to compute them
The nature of loads
• As discussed previously there are different types of structures from
multistory buildings to dams. Each structure has its own geometry,
own material, own shape therefore it has own weight.
• Each structure imposes different types of loads and even the load
created by this is not uniform. It may vary within the structure as
well.
• So, nature of the structure, nature of the load that it imposes and
nature of the variation needs to be understood.
Geometry of foundation
• Foundation used depends on the nature of structure.
• So it varies in size, shape and depth it is founded.
• Where and how it laid.
• Example it could be a simple footing and deep foundation.
Nature of soil
• Whether the soil is clay, silty, sand or gravels.
• Classification of soil.
The theory/method used to compute them
• It depend on how much ease with which we can compute the
stresses.

• Think soil as a particulate material.

• But it might not show exact complexity of soil.

What are the methods available for its
determination?
• In situ Measurement
• In advance methods

• We are primarily concerned with the vertical stresses.

Introduction
• Construction of a foundation causes changes in the stress, usually a
net increase.
• The net stress increase in the soil depends on the load per unit area
to which the foundation is subjected, the depth below the foundation
at which the stress estimation is desired, and other factors. It is
necessary to estimate the net increase of vertical stress in soil that
occurs as a result of the construction of a foundation so that
settlement can be calculated.
• This topic discusses the principles of estimation of vertical stress
increase in soil caused by various types of loading, based on the
theory of elasticity.
Types of Stresses
• Normal and Shear Stresses on a Plane
• Stresses Caused by a Point Load
• Vertical Stress Caused by a Vertical Line Load
• Vertical Stress Caused by a Horizontal Line Load
• Vertical Stress Caused by a Vertical Strip Load
• Vertical Stress Due to Embankment Loading
• Etc
Question 1 & 2
1) Using 2:1 method compute the additional stress with depth in 3m x
4m spread footing. The footing is loaded with 1500 kN. Suppose the
total depth is 10m.
2) For the footing of above question suppose it is loaded uniformly with
125KPa. Compute
a) Vertical Stress under the corner of footing
b) Vertical Stress under the centre
c) Compare result with Q1.
Influence Factors for the Vertical Compressive Stress Beneath One Corner of a Uniformly Loaded Rectangular Area at
the Surface
Question 3 & 4
3 ) Plot an isobar for a single concentrated load of P = 100 tons, for a
stress of Ϭz = 0.5 ton/sq.ft

4) Given is the column load = 600KN,. Column footing size = 1m x 1.5m

Required the stresses at 0.5,1,1.5,2.5,3 and 4 m.
Question 5
• A large oil storage tank 100 m in diameter is to be constructed on the
soil profile shown on next slide. Average depth of the soil in the tank
is 20m with specific gravity 0.92. Consolidation test from clay shows
the results (see figure next slide).
• Estimate the total and differential settlement of the tank. Neglect
settlement in sand. Solve this problem by assuming
• Consolidation at the middle of clay is typical of the entire layer.
Sand
Question 6

2.5 m
• Calculate
• A) Contact pressure below the footing
• B) Stress under the center of footings at a depth 5 m below GSL using
Boussingesq’s method
• C) Stress at 5 m depth midway between the column.
 Simpson’s rule/weighted average method for calculating
consolidation settlement under foundation

Note: These are depths needed to be calculated below the center of the footing in the clay layer
Procedure is similar to Newmarks’ method with
slight change
• We have to calculate m1 and n1 which are to find influence factor I’
• m1 = L/B
• n1 = z/b
• Where b = B/2
• And then you can read the table to find I’
• ΔϬ = qI’ where q is the contact stress
• Because of the influence factors for the distribution of q which results
in the decrement of ΔϬ with depth z,
Variation of I’ with m1 and n1
 7a

Calculate the settlement

of the 10-ft-thick clay
layer that will result from
the load carried by a 5-ft-
square footing. The clay is
normally consolidated.
Use the
weighted average method
to calculate the average
increase of effective
pressure in the clay layer.
 Practice Question

Q.7b A ware house of 40 x

100 feet in plan is to be
constructed on the soil
profile shown below
A)Calculate increase in stress
in clay layer by dividing it into
3 layers of 10’, 10’ and 20’.
Increase is to calculated at
mid depth
B) Calculate the settlement in
each layer and total
settlement.