In certain applications, a beam of relatively small bending stiffness is placed on
an elastic foundation and loads are applied to the beam. The loads are transferred through
the beam to the foundation. In this chapter, we assume that the foundation resists the loads
transmitted by the beam and responds in a linearly elastic manner; that is, the pressure
developed at any point between the beam and the foundation is proportional to the deflection
of the beam at that point. This type of foundation response is referred to as the Winkler
foundation or Winkler model (Hetknyi, 1946; Westergaard, 1948). This assumption is
fairly accurate for small deflections. However, if the deflections are large, the resistance of
the foundation generally does not remain linearly proportional to the beam deflection.