ABSTRACT
When a pressure is applied to a soil, the distribution of stress within the soil mass is extremely complex. Simple elastic analysis of stress distribution assumes a semi-infinite, elastic, isotropic and homogeneous material, conditions which are most unlikely on any site. However, it is necessary to have some means of estimating the distribution of vertical pressure beneath a foundation, for instance, in the calculation of settlement. Boussinesq's elastic analysis gives a means of calculating this distribution and, for reasonably homogeneous clays, gives acceptable values for vertical pressure at depth.
