Description of the problem

To verify the vertical stress at point c below the center of a circular loaded area, the influence coefficients of stress I_z below the center of a uniformly loaded area at the surface obtained by Scott (1974) (Table 12.2, page 287) are compared with those obtained by ELPLA.

Figure 2 shows a distributed load of q = 1000 [kN/m²] acts on a flexible circular area of radius r = 5 [m]. It is required to determine the vertical stress under the center c of the area at different depths z up to 10 [m] below the ground surface.

 Example 2: Stress on soil under a circular loaded area