In this study container structures such as cylindrical vessels which h
ave a flat or shallow spherical shell bottom on a Vlasov foundation wi
th variable soil characteristics, are investigated. The variation of t
he soil's elastic modulus is assumed exponential along the depth of so
il layer. Interaction between superstructure, foundation and soil is t
aken into account. The loading is considered as axisymmetric relative
to the center of the bottom. The solution is achieved using the flexib
ility method, in which the wall is represented by distributed loads an
d moments along the circumference of the bottom. Some parametrical res
ults are obtained for various soil layer depth-to-bottom radius ratios
and comparisons are made between exponential and the other variations
of the soil's elastic modulus.