2362
A. E. Giannakopoulos and S. Suresh
Global equilibrium connects the constant C with the applied vertical load
P
at the surface
origin as
s
n/2
2nC (cos $)I!‘+
’ cl+ = -P.
0
(10)
As an example, typical of many types of clay and sand, consider the case of
E =
E,&.
Then for a Poisson ratio, v = 0.4, the non-zero components of the fields are
-1P
o
RR
_ _cos 3/2
-
4nR2
&
uR = 6_iot3,2 cos h
% = ,,niIi3,2 sin 6, (11)
where 4 = 7112 at the surface and 4 = 0 along the z-axis.
The present section is closed by recalling the particular case of
k =
1 (Gibson soil,
E = E,z)
and v = 0.5 (incompressibility). Gibson and Kalsi (1974) and Callandine and
Greenwood (1978) proved that a simple radial field exists in this case and that it follows
the distribution of the homogeneous case. In the spherical coordinate system
(R, 4, O),
it
was found that the non-zero components of displacements, strains and stresses, respectively,
are
UR =
C/R’, ERR =
-2CjR3,
Eoo = Eg4 =
C/R3, CJRR =
-
2CEo cos 4
R2
’
(12)
with C = 3P/(4nEo). The displaced volume gives a remarkable relation between indentation
displacement and contact stress, which are simply related with a Winkler type of spring
constant of magnitude 2Eo/3 (Callandine and Greenwood, 1978).
Although the previous results had been known (Holl, 1940
;
Hruban, 1958), the effect
of the Poisson ratio for value above the critical value, l/(k+2), has not been examined thus
far. This effect will be explored in a later section with full field finite element calculations.
3.1.2.
The Flamant and Boussinesq problems for the power law case.
We develop in this
section general solutions for line and point load problems for the power law case. As shown
earlier, if the Poisson ratio v is not related to the power law exponent
k
according to
k =
l/v - 2(0 d
k <
l), then a simple radial field cannot be constructed for the axisymmetric
Boussinesq problem (point force). However, since the elastic property distribution does not
contain any characteristic length, it is possible to use potential theory to extract closed form
results. We solve first the Flamant problem, i.e., the solution for a vertical line load (plane
strain). The solution to the point load that corresponds to the axisymmetric Boussinesq
problem can be derived from it by recourse to Aleksandrov’s theorem which connects the
axisymmetric and plane problems (Aleksandrov, 1961). The approach of Booker
et al.
(1985) was to integrate directly the equilibrium equations in spherical coordinates. The
following method utilizes a different approach which involves the equilibrium equations in
cylindrical coordinates and the connection between axisymmetric and plane problems. As
shown later, the present results converge to the solution of Booker
et al.
in specific cases.
In the governing two dimensional compatibility equations, the stresses are expressed
in terms of the Airy stress function (e.g., Ching-Hua, 1961). Expressing the compatibility
equation in polar coordinates
(R, $I)?
and assuming a state of radial stress, and using
t The present approach with cylindrical coordinates, albeit more cumbersome than with the spherical coor-
dinates for the power law case, is much more versatile because of its use for arbitrary variations of elastic moduli
(especially for the cases that contain intrinsic lengths such as the exponential model discussed earlier).