Spatial foundation structures over no tension soil

The problem of the stress distribution induced in the soil by a single circular foundation structure is approached in a three-dimensional analysis. Since the soil is typically made by not-cohesive materials, its behaviour is modelled by means of the not resisting tension (NRT) hypothesis, thus assuming that its very low resistance to tensile stresses can be completely neglected and that it keeps linearly elastic under pure compression. After developing the problem from a theoretical point of view on the basis of an energetic approach, a numerical application-which is able to reproduce the stress distribution induced by a circular foundation on the soil-is performed. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.