Analytical solution for nonlinear interaction of euler beam resting on a tensionless soil

The nonlinear interaction between an elastic Euler beam and a tensionless soil foundation is studied. Exact analytical solutions of the challenging problem are rather complicated. The basic obstacle is imposing compatibility conditions at lift-off points. These points are determined as a part of the solution although being needed to get the solution itself. In the current work, solutions are derived using the approximate Rayleigh-Ritz method. The principal of vanishing variation of potential energy is adopted. The solution is approximated using a set of suitable trial functions. Lift-off points are identified through an iterative procedure and compatibility conditions are satisfied implicitly. Results are presented for various cases, including clamped support and free end condition. Various distributed loading conditions are analyzed. Exact solutions are revised briefly. Accurate high order approximate analytical solutions are obtained using MAXIMA symbolic manipulator. The convergence of approximate solutions towards the exact solutions is verified. For each case detailed results of deflection, bending moment and shear are presented. © 2021 ISEC Press.