University of Jordan

School of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department
Professor Bashar Tarawneh, P.E

0921703
Continuum Mechanics
Stress
Body and Surface Forces, Mass Density

Stress is a measure of force intensity, either within or on the

bounding surface of a body subjected to loads.

• It should be noted that in continuum mechanics a body is

considered stress free if the only forces present are those
interatomic forces required to hold the body together.

• The stresses that concern us here are those which result

from the application of forces by an external agent.

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Forces Acting on a Continuum Body

Two types of forces that can act on a continuous

medium will be considered:
• Body forces

• Surface forces

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Cauchy’s Postulates (Principles)
• Postulates: a statement that is accepted without proof
• Consider a continuous medium on which body and surface
forces are acting.

• Consider also a particle P in the interior of the continuous

medium and an arbitrary surface containing point P and
with a unit normal vector n at this point, which divides the
continuous medium into two parts (material volumes).

• The surface forces due to the contact between volumes will

act on the imaginary separating surface, considered now a
part of the boundary of each of these material volumes.

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• Consider the traction vector t that acts at the chosen point P as
part of the boundary of the first material volume.
• In principle, this traction vector (defined now at a material
point belonging to the interior of the original continuous
medium) will depend on:

1) The particle being considered,

2) The orientation of the surface (defined by means of the
normal n) and
3) The separating surface itself.

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 Split surface “S”

The traction vector at a point depends on that point P and the unit
normal vector n but not on the surface that cuts it.

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Stress Tensor

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 Stress Tensor

Consider now the particular case of a material volume

constituted by an elemental tetrahedron placed in the
neighbourhood of an arbitrary particle P of the interior of the
continuous medium and oriented according to the scheme in
Figure below.

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Stress Tensor

Point “O” is at the origin

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Mean Value Theorem

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Volume of Pyramid

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Stress Tensor Components

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Scientific Notation

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Engineering Notation

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Tension and Compression

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Properties of the Cauchy Stress Tensor

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Cauchy’s Equation of Motion

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Equilibrium Equations
Or Negligible

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Cauchy’s Equation of Motion

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Principal Stresses and Principal Stress
Directions

There will be
three planes
in which this
plot will have
no tangential
stress

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Mean Stress and Mean Pressure

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Spherical and Deviatoric Parts of a
Stress Tensor

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Stress Invariants

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Stress Invariants of the Stress
Deviator Tensor

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Stress Tensor in Different
Coordinate Systems

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Stress Tensor in a Cylindrical
Coordinate System

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Stress Tensor in a Spherical Coordinate
System

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Mohr’s Circle

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Mohr´s Circle for a 3D State of
Stress

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Determination of Mohr’s Circle

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Mohr´s Circle for a 2D State of
Stress

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2D State of Stress

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Stresses in a Oblique Plane

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Direct and Inverse Problems

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Direct Problem

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Direct Problem

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Inverse Problem

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Mohr’s Circle for a 2D State of Stress

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