The raft foundation will large area constructed on soil of medium bearing capacity, Reinforced concrete roads,etc.

Dear Subrat,

The Winkler elastic foundation concept is valid for both the shallow (strip footing, individual footing & raft foundation etc and deep foundation.) The applied load on these foundations are always lesser than the ultimate loqad by considering higher factor of safety so Winkler model concept is valid. However, these models have its own limitation, the main limitation is the predicted settlement will be considered only at the point, it does not consider the continuity effect..The application of these model for predicting the response for sheet pile wall or the pile subjected to only lateral load or combination of vertical and lateral load is questionable. Also, Winkler model theory is not very much useful in case of ground movement predictions due to earthquake. But, still Winkler model based analysis is valid for shallow foundation subjected to pure vertical load..Ok all the best in your research..

Dr. Karthigeyan S. ....I agree with your answer.

thank you Prof. Karthigeyan . S , Prof. Qasim M. Shakir and Prof. Saad Najeeb Shehab

Dear Subrat,

in fact these models are useful in Soil-Structure_Interaction (SSI) problems. The basic assumption is that the strains in such problems and at the interface of soil and structure are small enough to assume linear elastic behavior for soil. The structures are generally concrete and assumed to behave elastically. The SSI problem may be dynamic, too. So in soil dynamic problems the same methodology is utilized. Lots of examples are in hand, but beam on elastic foundations, laterally loaded piles, excavation retaining walls and tunnels in soil profile are among significant ones. regards

Dr. Masoud Oulapour 。。。 I agree with your answer.

This is a concept, various similar studies were also made,

1. Dr. Per Ulidtz for road/airport pavement analysis for layered system to obtain Horizontal Strain, vertical Stress and Vertical Deflection,

2. High Speed Train and Bridge Dynamics

3. Rigid Concrete Pavement for Highways/Airports

4. Bridge Deck-Girder Superstrcture resting on Elastomeric Bearings

The loaded structural member may be either continuously on supports (for example rigid concrete pavements or layered pavements or Open Foundations for Buildings, Bridge Abutments/Piers etc., items 1, 2, 3 above)

OR

The loaded structural member may be supported on certain locations and not on continuous support (for example item 4 above).