The Method of Integral Relations is used to predict stress distributions in a granular half-space due to a normally applied two-dimensional surface load. The resulting stress profiles are compared with Boussinesq's solution for a two-dimensional elastic medium and with the results of experiments which were carried out in sand using an axi-symmetric geometry. The theory predicts that the behaviour of the solutions depends primarily on the shape of the surface loading profiles. A parabolic loading profile equivalent to that observed experimentally yields vertical normal stress profiles which have good qualitative agreement with the experimental results and with the Diffusion Equation solution of Harr et al. As the surface pressure distribution approaches a uniform one, the theory predicts the existence of double-peaked vertical normal stress profiles similar to those observed in experiments in rock masses under equivalent loading conditions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59280 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Fekete, N. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Engineering (Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001074448, proquestno: AAIMM63482, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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