Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 May 2009
In this note we consider the problem of determining the stress on the boundary y = 0 of the elastic half-plane y ≡ 0 when there are prescribed body forces acting in the interior and the boundary is free from applied stress. Expressions for the components of stress at a general point of the half-plane when the imposed body force is concentrated at a single point have been derived by Melan [1], Sneddon [2] and Green [3], each author making use of a different method.