Jul 4, 2025
Pressure Bulb in Foundation Engineering, Concept Every Engineer Should Master
What Is a Pressure Bulb? In geotechnical engineering, the pressure bulb—also referred to as a stress isobar—is a conceptual tool used to visualize how a structural load applied at the ground surface disperses vertically and laterally into the underlying soil mass. Essentially, a pressure bulb is a three-dimensional imaginary surface that connects all points in the soil where the vertical stress…