Influence of material model

To illustrate the effect of a particular model used to predict a structural response we present an example of a shallow foundation loaded by the distributed loading q. A certain simplification of this task is the assumption of an infinitely stiff foundation loaded by the prescribed displacements.

The geometrical model and finite element mesh for individual tasks appear in the figure. The influence of soil and foundation self-weight on the resulting response is neglected. Owing to the symmetry of the model only one half of the structure is analyzed.

Task assignment: strip foundation

Geometrical model and the finite element mesh

Analysis results

The results suggest a considerably stiffer response of the soil to the external loading when using the MCM model in comparison to the DP and MC models, which in the present example show a similar behavior.