100 years of Prandtl's wedge / Stefan Van Baars.

Includes appendices with original publications in German.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-134).

Title Page; Preface; Contents; I Prandtl & Reissner; 1 Introduction; 2 Ludwig Prandtl; 3 Hans Jacob Reissner; II Original Publications; 4 Prandtl's publication of 1920; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Prandtl-wedge; 4.3 Prandtl-wedge, also discovered by Prandtl?; 5 Reissner's publication of 1924; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 Effect of the surcharge; III Bearing capacity factors; 6 Prandtl-wedge; 7 Surcharge bearing capacity factor N(q); 7.1 Analytical solution; 7.2 Numerical solution; 8 Cohesion bearing capacity factor N(c); 8.1 Analytical solution; 8.2 Numerical solution 9 Soil-weight bearing capacity factor N(gamma)9.1 Scaled modelling; 9.2 Numerical solution; 10 Superposition and bearing capacity factors; 10.1 Table of bearing capacity factors; 10.2 Superposition; IV Correction factors; 11 Extensions: correction factors; 12 Inclination factors; 12.1 Meyerhof and Brinch Hansen; 12.2 Surcharge fan reduction angle psi(q); 12.3 Cohesion fan reduction angle psi(c); 12.4 Surcharge inclination factor i(q); 12.5 Cohesion inclination factor i(c); 12.6 Soil-weight inclination factor i(gamma); 13 Shape factors; 13.1 Meyerhof and De Beer 13.2 Axisymmetric failure versus plane strain failure13.3 Cohesion shape factor s(c); 13.4 Surcharge shape factor s(q); 13.5 Soil-weight shape factor s(gamma); 13.6 Superposition of the shape factors; 14 Eccentric loading; 15 Slope factors; 15.1 Meyerhof and Vesic; 15.2 Modern research and German norms; 15.3 Cohesion slope factor lambda(c); 15.4 Soil-weight slope factor lambda(gamma); 15.5 Surcharge slope factor lambda(q); 16 Inclined footing factors; 17 Special footings; 17.1 Perforated footings; 17.2 Shell footings; 17.3 Footings on layered soil and punching; V Pile tip bearing capacity 18 Pile tip bearing capacity using Meyerhof19 Pile tip bearing capacity, CPT and failure mechanism; 20 Pile tip bearing capacity versus horizontal stress; VI Appendices; 21 Mohr-Coulomb and Rankine; 22 N(c) simplification; 23 Prandtl's publication of 1920; 24 Reissner's publication of 1924; 25 Literature; 26 Background of the author.

Annotation The biggest problem for a shallow foundation, just as for any other type of foundation, is a failure due to an overestimation of the bearing capacity. This means that the correct prediction of the bearing capacity of the foundation is often the most important part of the design of a civil structure. That is why the publication by Prandtl in 1920 about the hardness of a plastic body, was a major step in solving the bearing capacity of shallow foundations, although it is well possible that he never realised this, because his solution was not made for civil engineering purposes, but for mechanical purposes. Over the last 100 years, a lot of extensions have been made, for example with inclination factors and shape factors. Also many laboratory experiments have been done and numerical calculations have been made. Some even try to extrapolate the failure mechanism for shallow foundations to the failure mechanism around the tip of a pile. All this scientific work leads back to the first publication by Ludwig Prandtl in 1920. This book, "100 Years of Prandtl's Wedge", is intended for all those who are interested in these fundamentals of foundation engineering and their history. The Appendices include a copy of Prandtl's Über die Härte plastischer Körper and of Reissner's publication of 1924, Zum Erddruckproblem.