The elastic stresses produced in a thick plate by the application of pressure to its free surfaces

In a recent paper (1) an analysis was given of the distribution of stress in a semi-infinite elastic medium deformed by the pressure of a rigid body on part of the plane boundary, the remainder of the plane being free. In that form of the problem—the so-called ‘Boussinesq problem’—the normal displacement of a point within the pressed area was prescribed and the distribution of pressure over that area determined. In this paper the corresponding analysis is given for the case in which the pressed area and the distribution of pressure over it are both prescribed and the normal displacement of a point on the free surface is determined.