Stress

StressasaVector Traction
Forcehasvariablemagnitudesindifferentdirections(i.e.,its
avector)
Areahasconstantmagnitudewithdirection(ascalar):
Stressactingonaplaneisavector

=F/A

or

=F.1/A

Atraction isavectorquantity,and,asaresult,ithasboth
magnitudeanddirection
Thesepropertiesallowageologisttomanipulatetractionsfollowing
theprinciplesofvectoralgebra

Liketraction,aforceisavectorquantity andcanbe
manipulatedfollowingthesamemathematicalprincipals

StressandTraction
Stresscanmoreaccuratelybetermed"traction."
Atractionisaforceperunitareaactingona
specifiedsurface
Thismoreaccurateandencompassingdefinitionof
"stress"elevatesstressbeyondbeingamerevector,
toanentitythatcannotbedescribedbyasinglepair
ofmeasurements(i.e.magnitudeandorientation)
"Stress"strictlyspeaking,referstothewhole
collectionoftractionsactingoneachandevery
plane ofeveryconceivableorientation passing
throughadiscretepoint inabodyatagiveninstant
oftime

NormalandShearForce
Manyplanescanpassthroughapointinarockbody
Force(F)acrossanyoftheseplanescanberesolvedintotwo
components:Shearstress:Fs,&normalstress: Fn,where:
Fn =Fcos
Fs =Fsin
tan =Fs/Fn
Smaller meanssmallerFs
Notethatif=0,Fs=0andallforceisFn

NormalandShearStress
Stressonanarbitrarilyorientedplanethroughapoint,is
notnecessarilyperpendiculartothethatplane
Thestress(actingonaplanecanberesolvedintotwo
components:

Normalstress(n)
Componentofstressperpendiculartothe
plane,i.e.,paralleltothenormaltotheplane
Shearstress(s)or
Componentsofstressparalleltotheplane

NormalandShearStress

Stressistheintensityofforce
StressisForceperunitarea

=limF/AwhenA0
Agivenforceproducesalargestresswhenapplied
onasmallarea!
Thesameforceproducesasmallstresswhen
appliedonalargerarea
Thestateofstressatapointisanisotropic:
Stressvariesondifferentplaneswithdifferent
orientation

GeopressureGradientP/z

Theaverageoverburdenpressure(i.e.,lithostaticP)atthe
baseofa1kmthickrockcolumn(i.e.,z=1km),with
density()of2.5gr/cm3is25to30MPa

[ML1T2]

P=gz
P=(2670kgm3)(9.81ms2)(103 m)
=26192700kgm1s2 (pascal)
=26MPa

Thegeopressuregradient:

P/z 30MPa/km 0.3kb/km(kb=100MPa)

i.e.Pis 3kbatadepthof10km

TypesofStress
Tension:Stressacts toandawayfromaplane
pullstherockapart
formsspecialfracturescalledjoint
mayleadtoincreaseinvolume
Compression:stressacts toandtowardaplane
squeezesrocks
maydecreasevolume
Shear:acts||toasurface
leadstochangeinshape

Scalars
Physicalquantities,suchasthedensityor
temperatureofabody,whichinnoway
dependondirection
areexpressedasasinglenumber
e.g.,temperature,density,mass
onlyhaveamagnitude(i.e.,areanumber)
aretensorsofzeroorder
have0subscript and20 and30 components in2D
and3D,respectively

Vectors
Somephysicalquantitiesarefullyspecifiedbya
magnitudeandadirection,e.g.:
Force,velocity,acceleration,anddisplacement
Vectors:
relateonescalartoanotherscalar
havemagnitudeanddirection
aretensorsofthefirstorder
have1subscript (e.g.,vi)and21 and31
components in2Dand3D,respectively

Tensors
Somephysicalquantitiesrequireninenumbers
fortheirfullspecification(in3D)
Stress,strain,andconductivityareexamplesof
tensor
Tensors:
relatetwovectors
aretensorsofsecondorder
have2subscripts (e.g.,ij);and22 and32
components in2Dand3D,respectively

StressataPoint Tensor
Todiscussstressonarandomlyoriented
planewemustconsiderthethree
dimensionalcaseofstress
Themagnitudesofthen ands varyasa
functionoftheorientationoftheplane
In3D,eachshearstress, s isfurtherresolved
intotwocomponentsparalleltoeachofthe
2DCartesiancoordinatesinthatplane

Tensors
Tensorsarevectorprocessors
Atensor(Tij) suchasstrain,transforms an
inputvector Ii (suchasanoriginalparticleline)intoan
output vector,Oi (finalparticleline):
Oi=Tij Ii (Cauchyseqn.)
e.g.,windtensorchangingtheinitialvelocityvector
ofaboatintoafinalvelocityvector!

|O1|
|O2|

|a
= |c

b||I1|
d||I2|

Example(Oi=TijIi )
Let Ii = (1,1) i.e, I1=1; I2=1
and the stress Tij be given by:

|1.5 0|
|-0.5 1|
The input vector Ii is transformed into the
output vector(Oi) (NOTE: Oi=TijIi)
| O1 |=| 1.5
| O2 | | -0.5

0||I1| = |1.5
1||I1|
|-0.5

0||1|
1||1|

Which gives:
O1 = 1.5I1 + 0I2 = 1.5 + 0 = 1.5
O2 = -0.5I1 + 1I2 = -0.5 +1 = 0.5
i.e., the output vector Oi=(1.5, 0.5) or:
O1 = 1.5 or
|1.5|
|0.5|
O2 = 0.5

CauchysLawandStressTensor
CauchysLaw:Pi= ijlj (I

& j can be 1, 2, or 3)

P1, P2,andP3 aretractionsontheplaneparalleltothe

threecoordinateaxes,and
l1,l2,andl3 areequaltocos,cos ,cos
directioncosinesofthepoletotheplanew.r.t.thecoordinateaxes,
respectively

Foreveryplanepassingthroughapoint,thereisaunique
vectorlj representingtheunitvectorperpendiculartothe
plane(i.e.,itsnormal)
Thestresstensor(ij)linearlyrelatesorassociatesanoutput
vectorpi (tractionvectoronagivenplane)withaparticular
inputvectorlj (i.e.,withaplaneofgivenorientation)

Stresstensor
Intheyz(or23)plane,normaltothex(or1)axis:thenormal
stressisxx andtheshearstressesare:xy andxz
Inthexz(or13)plane,normaltothey(or2)axis:thenormal
stressisyy andtheshearstressesare:yx andyz
Inthexy(or12)plane,normaltothez(or3)axis:thenormal
stressiszz andtheshearstressesare:zx andzy
Thus,wehaveatotalof9components forastressactingon
aextremelysmallcubeatapoint
xz |
|xx xy
ij= |yx yy
yz |
|zx zy
zz |
Thus,stressisatensorquantity

Stresstensor

PrincipalStresses
Thestresstensormatrix:
|11 12
13 |
ij = |21 22
23 |
|31 32
33 |
Canbesimplifiedbychoosingthecoordinatessothattheyare
paralleltotheprincipalaxesofstress:
| 1 0
0|
ij = |0
2
0|
|0
0
3 |
Inthiscase,thecoordinateplanesonlycarrynormalstress;
i.e.,theshearstressesarezero
The 1,2,and 3 arethemajor,intermediate,andminor
principalstress,respectively
1>3;principalstressesmaybetensileorcompressive