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Stress

  • Page ID
    388
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    Forces in the earth are usually termed as stress. Stress is like a force, but there are important differences:

    1. Stress is force per unit area, like pressure.
    2. Stress is defined to be at mechanical equilibrium (all forces balanced). Thus stress is represented by a pair of opposing vectors (a single vector is called a traction).
    3. Stresses are in general not perpendicular to a plane in the earth, so there are two components, normal stress, and shear stress.

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