AbstractA comprehensive analysis is made of the harmonic response of vertically excited, massless, rigid ring foundations supported at the surface of an homogeneous elastic halfspace. The parameters considered include the thickness to radius ratio for the ring, the frequency of the exciting force and of the resulting steady‐state response, and Poisson's ratio for the supporting medium. The response quantities examined include the stiffness and damping coefficients of the system in an equivalent spring–dashpot representation of the supporting medium, the displacements of the foundation and of points on the ground surface away from the foundation, and the normal pressure at the foundation–medium interface. The results in each case are compared with those obtained for a solid disk having the same radius as the outer radius of the ring, and a simple approximate model is used to interpret the results and to provide insight into the action of the system. The reported data are computed by a method of analysis that takes due account of the mixed boundary conditions at the surface of the halfspace, and are believed to be of high acc