Abstract
Flexural behavior of thin square or rectangular raft foundations resting in smoot hcontact with an isotropic elastic halfspace is examined using a mixed-variational approach. The deflected shape and the flexural moments of the foundation are assumed as even functions of the spatial coordinates x and y and a number of unknown constants. The contact stress distribution at the foundation-halfspace interface is expressed as a direct function of the assumed deflected shape of the foundation. Numerical results are obtained for deflection, flexural moments and contact stress at the interface for different foundation frigidities. Comparison of results with the finite element solutions shows a good agreement for various relative rigidities. The proposed method is computationally efficient and can be used effectively to predict deflections and flexural moments of raft foundations.
