Analysis of Arching Pressures in Ideal Elastic Soil

A major unsolved problem in the design of underground structures is that of the magnitude and distribution of the acting load. Numerous experimental studies have shown that the soil surrounding the underground structure acts in conjunction with it, and that this joint action may be resolved.into arching, which induces stress redistribution in the soil, so that the effective load on the structure differs from the sum of the overburden and external load, and restraint, which prevents elastic deformation of the structure and inhibits the modes of failure it would have undergone under the same load in a free state.