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The stress tensor allows for the full description of internal forces in a solid material. It defines the relationship between traction (force per unit area) on a plane of arbitrary orientation and the orientation of that plane. The stress tensor is a 3x3 matrix that contains the normal and shear stresses on the x, y, and z planes. It is symmetric, with only six independent components, and can be used to calculate the traction vector for any plane orientation by multiplying the stress tensor and a unit normal vector.

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34 views

Presentation 4

The stress tensor allows for the full description of internal forces in a solid material. It defines the relationship between traction (force per unit area) on a plane of arbitrary orientation and the orientation of that plane. The stress tensor is a 3x3 matrix that contains the normal and shear stresses on the x, y, and z planes. It is symmetric, with only six independent components, and can be used to calculate the traction vector for any plane orientation by multiplying the stress tensor and a unit normal vector.

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navneet verma
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© © All Rights Reserved
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The stress tensor

• Any quantitative description of seismic wave


propagation or of earthquake physics requires the
ability to characterize the internal forces and
deformations in solid materials.
• The internal forces of restitution per unit area of a
deformed body is known as stress.
.
• Consider an infinitesimal plane of arbitrary
orientation within a homogeneous elastic medium in
static equilibrium. The orientation of the plane may
be specified by its unit normal vector nˆ .
• The force per unit area exerted by the side in the
direction of n̂ across the plane is termed the traction
and is represented by the vector
t( n̂ ) = ( t x , t y , t z ) .
There is an equal and opposite force exerted by the
side opposing n̂ , such that t(nˆ)  t(nˆ).
The direction of force due to pressure in the
direction of (n̂ ).
t  p. A(nˆ) ,where p is pressure.
In general, the magnitude and direction of the traction vector
will vary as a function of the orientation of the infinitesimal
plane. Thus, to fully describe the internal forces in the
medium, we need a general method for determining t as a
function of . This is accomplished with the stress tensor,
which provides a linear mapping between and t. The stress
tensor τ, in a Cartesian coordinate system may be defined by
the tractions across the yz, xz, and xy plane.

tx (xˆ) tx (yˆ) tx (zˆ) xx xy xz 


   
  ty (xˆ) ty (yˆ) ty (zˆ)  yx yy yz 
tz (xˆ) tz (yˆ) tz (zˆ) zx zy zz 

Because the solid is in static equilibrium, there can be no net
rotation from the shear stresses. For example, consider the
shear stresses in the xz plane. To balance the torques,
 xz   zx Similarly, xy   yx and y z   z y and the stress
tensor τ is symmetric.
The stress tensor τ contains only six independent elements
and these are sufficient to completely describe the state of
stress at a given point in the medium.
The traction across any arbitrary plane of orientation
defined by t(n̂ ) obtained by multiplying the stress
tensor by n̂ .

t x (nˆ )   xx  xy  xz   nˆ x 
    
t (nˆ )   nˆ  t y (nˆ )    xy  yy  yz   nˆ y 
t (nˆ )   xz  yz  zz   nˆ 
z    z
Reference
Peter M. Shearer. Introduction to Seismology.
New York: Cambridge University Press,2009.
Thank you…

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