Analysis of slabs-on-grade for a variety of loading and support conditions

This study is concerned with analytical and numerical procedures applied to slab-on-grade pavements, treated as plates on elastic foundation, with particular emphasis on the possibilities offered by the automated digital computer. In the first part of the report, analyses employing the dense liquid foundation are examined. This includes an exhaustive reexamination of Westergaard's work, which established conclusively the correct form of the Westergaard equations and pointed out that the new edge stress formula should be used. Closed-form solutions for a plate on a dense liquid or an elastic solid foundation are assembled in a computerized compendium called WESTER. The second part of the study focuses on elastic solid analyses of the same problem. Pickett's Chart for edge stress is recalculated using computerized numerical integration, and the results is incorporated in computer program H51ES. Three additional computer codes are developed: (1) A method using the concept of concordant deflections for axisymmetric plates (program CFES); (2) A finite difference approach for rectangular plates (program FIDIES); and (3) A finite element solution for rectangular plates (incorporated into program ILLI-SLAB).