Beam on spatially random elastic foundation

Abstract

Beams on elastic foundations have been mostly analyzed using the Winkler model, in which a series of disjointed elastic springs are used to represent the foundation soil. However the two-parameter Vlasov's foundation model gives better representation of beam-soil interaction since it incorporates normal and shear resistance of soil. Previous studies examined response of beams on elastic foundation model considering model parameters as deterministic quantity. In contrast to previous studies, this paper examines the response of beams resting on elastic soil media with spatial random variations of soil Young's modulus. The randomness in the soil properties is incorporated in the two-parameter Vlasov's foundation model and, subsequently, the beam responses are obtained. Statistics of beam response are obtained by Monte Carlo simulation approach. It is observed that the soil inherent variability alters the beam response significantly. � 2011 ASCE.