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This self-contained book presents problems in classical elasticity, tailored for the geotechnician. Each begins with an examination of prevailing symmetries, and moves from a search for balanced stress fields to the associated strain and displacement fields.

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This book deals in a modern manner with a family of named problems from an old and mature subject, classical elasticity. These problems are formulated over either a half or the whole of a linearly elastic and isotropic two- or three-dimensional space, subject to loads concentrated at points or lines. The discussion of each problem begins with a careful examination of the prevailing symmetries, and proceeds with inverting the canonical order, in that it moves from a search for balanced stress fields to the associated strain and displacement fields.

The book, although slim, is fairly well self-contained; the only prerequisite is a reasonable familiarity with linear algebra (in particular, manipulation of vectors and tensors) and with the usual differential operators of mathematical physics (gradient, divergence, curl, and Laplacian); the few nonstandard notions are introduced with care. Support material for all parts of the book is found in the final Appendix.

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About this book

Preface

References

1 One-Dimensional Paradigms

Part I Preliminaries
2 Elements of Linear Elasticity
3 Geometric and Analytic Tools

Part II Three Classical Problems: Flamant´s, Boussinesq´s, and Kelvin´s
4 The Flamant Problem
5 The Boussinesq Problem
6 The Kelvin Problem

Part III Three Other Problems: Melan´s, Mindlin´s, and Cerruti´s
7 The Melan and Mindlin Problems
8 The Cerruti Problem

Appendix

Index of frequently used symbols

Index

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