The article deals with direct methods for solving the variational problem in stresses for multicriteria estimation of the bearing capacity of a geomaterial sample in the current configuration, which can be both reference (undeformed) and actual (deformed). The problem is to minimize the integral quadratic functional from the various stress components in the selected control subdomain on a set of stress fields statically balanced with external influences. For the simplest configurations of the sample, it is proposed to use the method of generalized Fourier series in Hilbert spaces. For complex configurations of a sample with stress concentrators, it is suggested to use finite element approximation with the subsequent minimization of a finite-dimensional quadratic function with linear constraints of equalities. A substantial numerical example is given for estimating the bearing capacity of a sample from a geomaterial under pure compression.
