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Elasticity:Stressand strain
By ENDERS ROBINSON and DEAN CLARK

E lasticity is the property that enablesa fluid or solid body to normal stresses;thosethat act parallel to it are shear stresses.
resistchangein sizeand shapewhen an externalforceis applied As an example,considerthe forcethat actsat the baseof a col-
and to return to its original size and shape when the force is umn of rock at depth z (beneath the ground level) to support
removed.This conceptis a major building block in seismology the column (seeFigure 1). The weight of the column of cross-
becauseit is the elasticpropertiesof rockswhich allow seismic sectionalarea AA is pgzAA, whereP is the constantdensityand
wavesto propagatethrough the earth. g is the accelerationof gravity. This weight must be balanced
The theory of elasticity is one of the major achievementsof by an upwardsurfaceforce a&4 distributedon the horizontal
classicalphysics.Its architectsincludemany of the colossalscien- surface element of area AA at depth z. Here we assumethat
tific figuresof the 17th, 18th and 18th centuries,among whom thereare no vertical forceson the lateral surfacesof the column.
are Robert Hooke, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, JamesBernoulli The quantity a., is thus the surfaceforce per unit area acting
and his nephew Daniel Bernoulli, Leonhard Euler, Thomas perpendicularly to the horizontal surface & that is, uZrris a
Young, Charles Augustin Coulomb, Augustin Louis Cauchy, normal stress.In equilibrium the opposing forcesmust be the
Claude Louis Marie Navier, Simeon Denis Poissonand George same, so
Gabriel Stokes.The framework, which they and others con-
0.2 = P&z
structedto quantify and analyzeelasticity,derivesfrom the basic
conceptsof classicalmechanicsknown as stressand strain and This normal stressdue to the weight of the overlying rock or
the mathematical linkage known as Hooke’s Law. overburdenis known as the lithostatic stress.
Stressesare forcesper unit area that are transmitted through Verticalsubsurfaceareasalso receivenormal stresses. The nor-
a material, i.e., forcesexertedby one part of a body on a neigb- mal stressacting in the x direction on a plane perpendicularto
boring part. Stressesthat act perpendicularly to a surfaceare the x direction is a,. The horizontal normal stresscomponents

Figure 1. Figure 2.

16 GEOPHYSICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION FEBRUARY 1988

 urr and uYvcan include large-scaletectonic forces, in which case weight 01 the overburden and the tectonic forces which push
u, # mYY # err. However,there are instancesin global geophysics the two sidesof the fault together. The tangential or shear force
in which rock has been heated to sufficiently high temperatures oVr is the frictional resistancethat opposes the tectonic forces
or was initially sufficiently weak so that the three normal stresses
are each equal to the weight of the overburden. When the three
stresses are equal, they are referred to as the oressure. This The theory of elasticityis fundamental
balance between pressure and the weight of the-overburden is to seismologybecauseit is the elastic
called a lithostatic state of stress.Likewise, hydrostatic equilib-
propertiesof rocks which allow seismic
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rium can exist in the sea, where pressureforcesare exertedequally

in all directions and pressure increases linearly with depth. wavesto propagatethroughthe earth.
Of course, forces can also act parallel to an area. Consider
the forces acting on the element of area AA lying in the plane driving the left lateral motion of the fault.
of a strike-slipfault (seeFigure 2). The normal compressiveforce Both kinds of stressare involved in Figure 3 which is a model
u&4 acting on the fault face is a consequence of both the of a zone of continental collision in which (as often happens)

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

GEOPHYSICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION FEBRUARY 1988 17

 A

I
I

*
t
0
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Figure 5.

P P’
0 (original position) w (displaced position)

I-L
*w
Originaf length Displakw7t

Figure 6.

P
l

+x-I
Before After
Figure 7.

18 GEOPHYSICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION FEBRUARY 1988

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P
0

Before After

Figure 8.

a thin sheet of crystallinerock is overthrustupon adjacent conti- presentedin Figure 5. Figure 5a showsa family of linesthat could
nental rocks by means of a low-angle thrust fault. In Figure 3, model a geologic cross section of flat horizontal beds, Figure
the thrust sheethas been put in position as a result of horizontal 5b shows the same model after a shearing distortion. The line
tectonic forces. If the influence of gravity is neglected, the total AB is initially normal to the family of lines (or parallel beds);
horizontal tectonic force Fr due to horizontal tectonic stressa,, but after folding, this line makes the angle $ with the normal.
is u,HW (H is the thickness of the thrust sheet and W is the The angle II/ is called the angular shear and its tangent is defined
width of the sheet). The total resisting shear stressFR is u,,LW as the shear strain. The ratio of the increased length of each
(L is the length of the thrust fault). Often the shear stressox= line in Figure 5b to its original length in Figure 5a is defined
is proportional to the normal stresspressingthe surfacestogether. as the normal strain.
In such cases,a,, = cu,, where uZZis the vertical normal stress
acting on the base of the thrust sheet and the constant c is the Since stressand strain are both ex-
coefficient of friction. If we assumea,, has the lithostatic value
UZZ = pgH, then by setting FT = Fe, we find that
pressed as ratios, they are often confused.
Uxx = wgL However, there are two important dif-
This quantity is the tectonic stressrequired to emplace a thrust ferences between them: stressesare
sheet of length L. related to force (in fact, one working
The double subscript notation is necessarybecausethe stress
on a surface element in a solid body is not in general normal
definition is that stressis a measurement
(perpendicular) to that surface, but impacts the surface element of a material’s internal resistanceto an
at an angle. However, the stresscan be described by separating external force) whereasstrains deal strictly
it into normal and tangential components by the use of appro-
priate coordinate axes. This is illustrated in Figure 4 where three with configuration; and stressesspecify
mutually perpendicular axes (the traditional x&z) are oriented conditions at a particular instant,
at point P. The stressesacting on the three planes normal to
the three axes, and which pass through P, are indicated. This
whereasstrains compare conditions at
is one of the most conventional notations for stress.The symbol two different times.
u indicates stress; the first subscript refers to the direction of
the force component and the second subscript to the direction For a more formal mathematicaldevelopmentof normal strain,
of the normal to the element of area. Thus a stressnotation in let us look at a simple situation, called homogeneous strain, in
which both subscripts are identical, such as uZr, represents a which the strain is consistentthroughout the rock. Supposethat
normal stress.A stressnotation with differing subscripts indi- the block of rock in Figure 6 has been stretched uniformly so
cates a shear stress. that its dimension in the x-direction has changed.The movement
U, of a rock grain initially at x is proportional to x. The pro-
T here are in theory, as seen in Figure 4, three normal stresses portionality constant is AL/L where L is the original length of
and six shear stresses.However, for practical purposes there are the block and AL is the change in its length. Thus
only three independent shear stressesbecauseu,, = u,,~,uxZ =
u, = (AL/L)x
err, e,, = Gy. These equalities must hold becausethere can be
no net torque on the small cube, otherwise it would be spinning. If the strain is not uniform, the proportionality constant will
Strain quantifies the deformation or distortion that a body vary from place to place; in this case the proportionality factor
undergoes due to the application of external forces. There are is denoted as a kind of local AL/L which, when the displacement
two basic categories: normal strain and shear strain. The con- is very small (nearly alwaysthe situation in geophysicalexplora-
ventional notation for strain is the symbol e and two subscripts. tion), can be expressed
Thus ~~~representsa normal strain and cry representsa shear atdax
t.Z* =
strain.
A geologic example illustrating normal and shear strain is (Obviously, some mildly complicated calculuswas involved. The
(Stress continued on p. 29)

GEOPHYSICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION FEBRUARY 1988 19

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(Stresscontinuedfrom p. 19)
particulars can be found in many of the standard textbooks.) lished that E,~ = +, it follows that only three shear strains are
The number E,, called the normal strain, describesthe amount independent.
of stretching in the x-direction. In general, there is also stretch-
ing in the y and z directions and those amounts, E,,,,and eZr,
are similarly established and defined as the normal strains in
S, mce stressand strain are both expressedas ratios, they are
often confused. However, there are two important differences
the y and z directions. betweenthem: stressesare relatedto force - in fact, one working
definition is that stressis a measurementof a material’s internal
To developa mathematical descriptionof shearstrain, we again resistanceto an external force, whereas strains deal strictly with
begin with the homogeneous caseby isolating a small cube (see configuration; and stressesspecify conditions at a particular
Figure 7) in undisturbed rock. When the rock is deformed, the instant, whereas strains compare conditions at two different
cube is transformed so that its initially rectangularcrosssection times. This is emphasized becausethe “state of strain at a par-
has become a parallelogram. If the strain is symmetric with ticular instant” is commonly discussed.This means the strain
respect to x and y, the total angle of shear is made up of two relating the body at that instant to some earlier shape, which
equal parts, 8/2. From Figure 7b, we seethat the x displacement is almost always the original undeformed shape. On the other
U, is proportional to they coordinate, namely U, = [tan6’/21y. hand, the stresscondition at any particular instant can be speci-
When an angle is small, it is approximately equal to its tan- fied completely by the force distribution at that instant; nothing
gent, making u, = (0/2)y and K, = (0/2)x. This permitsthe shear has to be known about prior force distribution.
strainseXYand eyxto be defined asO/2. The displacementformu- Rocksare among the many substancesthat can be considered,
las then become u, = EDGY and U, = E,J when the deformations are small, perfectly elastic.Thus we can
Now assumea slightly alteredsituation. Instead of having both assume that elastic theory in general and Hooke’s Law (the
angles rotate inward toward the diagonal, let both move in the mathematical relationship of stressand strain) in particular are
same direction so that u, = - (0/2)y and u,, = (8/2)x (see Figure applicable to the forces in and deformations of the earth. This
8). In this case,the cube is simply rotated through the angle o/2. is quite fortunate becausethe essenceof Hooke’s Law, stress
There is no distortion so, by definition, there is no strain. Thus is proportional to strain, is linear - a rarity among physical
we must make certain that our mathematicaldescriptionof strain phenomena(99 percent of which are nonlinear) and a greatcon-
eliminates pure rotations such as this. This can be achieved by venience mathematically (99 percent of the known techniques
defining shearstrain as the arithmetic averageof the fwo angles, are linear).
thus (becausesmall anglesare approximately equal to their tan- Seismic wavesoccur when the equilibrium of the particles in
gents, and tangents are equal to derivatives): the earth is disturbed. Hooke’s Law can be combined with
Newton’s Law of motion to analyzethe wavemotion. Thesecom-
Ex!J= Eyx = (l/2) [au,/ar + &+/ax] putational manipulations and the physical inferences that can
Nine strains (three normal and six shear) can exist in a three- be extracted from them will be the themes of the next two arti-
dimensional body, but by extending the reasoning which estab- cles in this series. E

GEOPHYSICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION FEBRUARY 1988 29