On Foundations That React in

In this paper it is assumed that tensile stresses cannot be transmitted across the inter-face between beams, or plates, and their supporting subgrade. The subgrade is repre-sented by models that were proposed by Winkler and by Reissner. The absence of tensile stresses, across the interface between a beam and its foundation, may be ac-companied by the formation of no contact regions under the beam. Within those no-contact regions the beam lifts up away from its foundation and the subgrade does not support the structure. The development of no-contact regions is examined in several examples that are presented in this paper. In all the examples the structure, beam or plate, is subjected to a single concentrated load