>So there is a sort of load pyramid that has to form underground to support each point load. And the more point loads you add in a grid, the deeper you go, the

>So there is a sort of load pyramid that has to form underground to support each point load. And the more point loads you add in a grid, the deeper you go, the pyramid overlap more together. So with constant pressure, the wider area you have, the more there is stress deeper down, and the worse the effect gets with distance. This only works in the land of spherical cows. In reality the pressure is never going to be higher than what it is at the contact patch and while a much wider area is bearing the load friction between particles and height of overburden dominate. If what you are proposing was true many sorts of construction projects would be much simpler