Concentrated Force Action on 1/8 Homogeneous Isotropic Space

Using the example of vertical displacements, it is shown that by combining a solution to the problem of determining vertical displacements from the action of four identical concentrated forces symmetrically applied to an elastic half-space and two identical concentrated forces symmetrically applied to an elastic quarter-space, one can obtain a solution about the action of one force on 1/8 of the elastic space with free edges. To find vertical displacements in an elastic half-space, the  Boussinesq  solution  is  used,  and  vertical  displacements in an  elastic  quarter-space – an integral equation obtained by Ya. S. Uflyand to determine vertical displacements in the face of a homogeneous elastic isotropic quarter-space, for which a deformation modulus and Poisson’s ratio are constant. However, an integral equation of Ya. S. Uflyand is very inconvenient for practical use, therefore, in the paper, an approximate expression written in terms of elementary functions is proposed to find vertical displacements in the face of an elastic quarter-space from the action of a concentrated force. To obtain the latter, a special approximation method is used. The desired solution is also expressed in terms of elementary functions. In this case, an accurate calculation is obtained for an incompressible material with Poisson’s ratio 1/8 of the space n = 0.5. Since the solution is obtained in the case of a concentrated force acting on 1/8 of the elastic space, it is easy to find an expression for determining the vertical displacements of the edge of 1/8 of the elastic space from the action of any distributed load by integrating over the area of action of this load from the influence function, which is taken as required decision. Recommendations for improving the accuracy of calculations are offered. The described approach can also be used to determine the stress-strain of 1/8 of the space with both hingedly supported and free edges.

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