Effect of irregularity on static deformation of elastic half-space

In the present paper, the problem of two-dimensional static deformation of an isotropic elastic half-space of irregular thickness has been studied using the eigenvalue approach, following a Fourier transform. The irregularity is expressed by a rectangular shape. As an application, the normal line-load acting inside an irregular isotropic half-space has been considered. Further, the results for the displacements have been derived in the closed form. To examine the effect of irregularity, variations of the displacements with horizontal distance have been shown graphically for different values of irregularity size, and they are compared with those for the medium with uniform shape. It is found that irregularity affects the deformation significantly.