Announcements

Next week lab: 1-3 PM Mon. and Tues. with

Andrew McCarthy. Please start on lab before
class and come prepared with specific
questions
Cottonwood wash ex. Due on Mon. in lecture
There will be NO lecture next Wed., Oct. 2.
Please use the time to:
1) Study important terms/concepts at end of
Powerpoint lectures
2) Work on practice problems (perhaps as a
group in this room)
3) Fault project

Stress and the Mohr diagram

(D&R, 98-122)
1. Why learn about stress?
2. What is stress?
3. Lithostatic stress
4. Important stress tractions and stress ellipse
5. Stress Mohr circle

Why study stress?

Dynamic/mechanical analysis: Interpret the
stresses that produce deformation
- Tectonic
stresses and
processes

- Rock deformation

Force vs. Stress

Force: That which changes, or tends to change,
body motion
Newton's first law of motion: F=ma
mass in kg; acceleration in m/s2
1 Newton (1N) = 1kg m/s2
Forces are vector quantities; they have magnitude
and direction.

Body forces: act on every point within a

body
GRAVITY! F = mg

Surface forces: act on a specific surface in a

body

Stress: that which tends to deform a body

how is it different than force?
Deformation depends on how force is distributed!

Stress may be thought of as a description of

force concentration
Stress on a plane (traction), = F/A
what about units of stress?
1N/m2 = 1 Pa
100 MPa = 1 kbar

lithostatic stress
vertical force = Vg =
L3g
vertical stress = L3g/L2
= gL

gL = (2700 kg/m3)(10m/s2)(1500m) = 40500000 Pa

= 40.5 MPa = .405 kbar

a stress traction is
a vector, like force

normal stress (traction): stress perpendicular

to plane
shear stress (traction): stress parallel to
plane

A complete definition of Stress = a description of

tractions at a given point on all possible surfaces
going through
the point
1
1: Principal axis of greatest
compressive stress
3: Principal axis of least
compressive stress
3

1 and 3 always perpendicular

and always perpendicular to
planes of no shear stress
1

The goal of stress analysis is to determine the

normal and shear stresses on any plane of any
orientation, given the directions and magnitudes of
the principal stresses

Analytical approach: Fundamental stress equations

1 3 1 3
N

cos 2
2
2
1 3
S
sin 2
2

= angle of plane from 1

1 3
1 3
2
N
S

2
2

Equation for a circle!

Geometric approach: Mohr Stress Diagram

a plot of s vs. n
first step: plot 1 and 3 recalling that they are in
directions of no shear stress; draw Mohr circle

second step: Draw a line representing the plane at

2, measured from 3.

differential stress: ( 1- 3)
causes distortion

mean stress: ( 1+ 3)/2

causes dilation

diameter of circle

center of circle

deviatoric stress: ( 1- 3)/2

causes distortion

radius of circle

Mohr circles are useful for visualizing states of

stress

hydrostatic: equal stress magnitude in all directions

pore fluid pressure: serves to decrease confining

pressure

effective stress = confining pressure fluid pressure

Next Lecture
Stress and Deformation
( D&R, 122-126; 226-252)

Important terminology/concepts
force vs. stress
static vs. dynamic equilibrium
body forces vs. contact forces
lithostatic stress
definition of stress
greatest/least principal stress directions
normal stress (traction)
shear stress (traction)
Mohr circle stress diagram
mean stress
differential stress
deviatoric stress
effective stress
pore fluid pressure
hydrostatic state of stress
dynamic/mechanical analysis

Ratio of S/N can be used to evaluate if failure is going to occur!