Explicit stresses under rectangular detached footings with biaxial bending

Abstract

The calculation of stresses under rectangular footings with biaxial bending is carried out by solving the 3-equations system that sets up the load and soil stresses equilibrium. When a planar soil stresses distribution is assumed, and the area is in full compression, the above system is linear and its solution immediate. With increasing eccentricities, some corners of the footing can get detached from the soil, the system becoming nonlinear, and difficulties arise in its resolution. Classic answers to this problem have been found through the numerical (iterative) solution of the system, or by getting nondimensional graphs for direct calculation, whose sketches also require a numerical solution. In the paper an analytical alternative is presented which will lead to obtaining explicit solutions for these stresses and neutral axis location.