Itisacommonobservationthatthetheoryof

elasticityisusefulbeyondtherangeofelasticity.
M.M.Westergaard

TheBoussinesqmethodisoneofthemostcommonlyusedmethodsforobtainingstress
distributionsinelasticmedia.Itassumesthatamediumiselastic,isotropicandhomogeneous.
However,mostsoilsareneitherisotropicnorhomogeneous.Infact,atmanysites,different
soillayerswithdistinctivecharacteristicsoccur.

CasagrandebroughttotheattentionofWestergaardtheneedforasolutionforstresses
underneathafoundationthatcouldaccountforalternatinghorizontallayersofsoftandstiff
materials.Insuchmaterials,thestressdistributionobtainedfromtheBoussinesqsolutionwas
incorrect.If,forexample,astiffmateriallayerisunderlainbyasoftlayer,stressesinthesoft
soilarelowerthanthoseindicatedbytheBoussinesqmethod.Westergaardformalizedthe
compoundmaterialwiththefollowingassumptions:

1) Thestifflayersarespacedverycloselysuchthatthecompoundmaterialhasthe
characteristicsofanisotropichomogeneousmaterial.
2) Thethicknessofthestifflayersarenegligiblecomparedtothatofthesoftmaterials.
3) Thestiffmaterialisinextensibleandthuspreventsanyhorizontalstraininboththesoft
andstifflayers.

Westergaardsassumptionsmainlyreducethestresses
obtaineddirectlybelowthecenteroftheloadas
comparedtotheBoussinesqsolution.However,ata
certaindistanceawayfromthecenter,stressesobtained
fromWestergaardbegintoexceedthosecalculatedfrom
Boussinesq.

 = 0.2

= 0.01

= 0.4

= 0.49
Westergaard
Boussinesq

WestergaardstressprofileswithvaryingPoissonsratios
comparedtoaBoussinesqstressprofileunderneathacircularload

Ingeneral,sedimentarysoilssuchasnaturalclaystratahighlightthenonisotropicnatureof
soilmedia.Asaresult,theWestergaardequationsbettermodelrealproblems.Inpractice,
manygeotechnicalengineersoftenprefertheBoussinesqapproachprimarilybecauseitgives
moreconservativeresults.Howeverthe
choiceofstressanalysismethodsshould
dependonhowcloselytheirresultsmatch
fieldconditionsandobservedbehaviour.

Fromtheabovediscussion,andbasedon
valuedcustomerrequests,theWestergaard
stresssolutionmethodwasaddedtoSettle3D
version2.004.Anewsetofverification
examplesthatcompareSettle3Dresultsto
existinganalyticalsolutionswerealso
provided.