Slump test for yield stress Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
A slump test for yield stress probes a material by allowing a molded sample to deform under its own weight. Fill a known mold on a level support, remove the mold, and measure the decrease in height or the spread of the final deposit. Gravity supplies the driving stress; resistance associated with the yield stress can arrest the motion before the sample becomes a thin layer.
The measured distance is not itself a stress. Inferring yield stress requires a calibrated relation or a mechanical model using the initial geometry, final shape and density. The final slump alone generally cannot identify both yield stress and dynamic viscosity: a time-resolved measurement provides additional information. A modified concrete test, for example, records the time required for a specified fall as well as the final slump.[ref]
Modified Slump Test to Measure Rheological Parameters of Fresh Concrete. pp. 241–247, abstract and apparatus: final slump and additional time measurement for rheological parameter estimation
The procedure is useful as a simple field measurement, with interpretation dependent on sample history and geometry. Small-amplitude oscillatory shear Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Small-amplitude oscillatory shear probes linear viscoelastic response by imposing and resolving the stress into components in phase with strain and strain rate.
Snoek effect 2026-10-18
The Snoek effect is anelasticity caused by stress-induced redistribution of mobile interstitial defects among differently oriented sites in a crystal. An applied stress favors orientations whose local distortion best accommodates it. At low frequency the atoms can track that bias and provide additional relaxed compliance; at high frequency their populations are nearly frozen. Dissipation is largest between these regimes. For a weak single relaxation, the loss tangent has the approximate shape , with for thermally activated hopping. The peak is near . This describes a standard mechanism for interstitial impurities in body-centred cubic metals, not every damping mechanism in every alloy. [ref]
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/isijinternational1989/37/6/37_6_610/_pdf. ISIJ International 37 (1997), 610: stress-induced interstitial diffusion, Eq. (2) for the Debye-shaped damping peak and its activated relaxation time
Solar magnetic field Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
The solar magnetic field is generated and maintained by electrically conducting flows through solar dynamo action. It includes a large-scale approximately dipolar component near activity minimum and strong, intermittent fields in active regions and sunspots. Its organized polarity reversals define the magnetic solar cycle. Magnetic stresses modify the generating flows, so a saturated dynamo requires nonlinear feedback as well as magnetic induction.
Solid Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
A solid resists sustained changes of shape on the timescale being considered. It can support a static shear stress, whereas an ordinary liquid continues to deform under sustained shear. Small loads often produce recoverable elastic deformation; larger loads can cause plastic deformation or fracture.
A solid need not be a crystal. A crystalline specimen has long-range structural order, while an amorphous solid such as ordinary glass lacks the same repeating lattice arrangement. The mechanical classification and the structural classification answer different questions. Applying a small lateral load to the top of a block while holding its base fixed tests shear resistance; a finite shear displacement at static balance is a solid-like response. At long times some solids also creep, so the observation interval and applied stress matter when comparing a material's response with an ideal elastic model.
Solid stress Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
solid stress is stress carried by solid constituents of a tissue or material. Compressive solid stress, interstitial fluid pressure and elastic stiffness are distinct quantities that can coexist in a tumour.
Spherical elastoplastic cavity 2026-10-25
A spherical cavity of fixed reference radius in an infinite solid with perfect plasticity, the Tresca yield criterion, and zero far-field stress first yields under internal pressure . In the plastic region , radial force balance and give . Matching to the outer linear elasticity solution, where , gives the displayed plastic-front radius. These are small-strain reference-geometry formulae.
Standard linear solid model Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-11-05
A standard linear solid model has a finite instantaneous stiffness, a nonzero long-time stiffness and one exponential stress-relaxation mode. A Kelvin-Voigt model with spring and viscosity in series with spring givesThese expressions follow by adding series strains under common stress. Its storage modulus is and its loss modulus is for . Its relaxation modulus is , while its creep compliance is . Thus creep retardation and stress-relaxation times differ. This solid has bounded creep and cannot represent terminal fluid flow.
The linear system , and admits stationary stress as well as propagating waves. For instance, , and solve it for any sufficiently small smooth . Thus arbitrary initial magnetic second-moment tensor perturbations need not be oscillatory.
Steadily moving antiplane shear Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
For subsonic motion , an antiplane shear displacement satisfies . The displayed rescaling makes it a harmonic function of , so locally for a holomorphic function . Set . The Cauchy-Riemann equations then give . Keeping this potential normalization explicit avoids losing a factor of in the dynamic stress field. At sonic or supersonic speeds the elliptic harmonic reduction does not apply.
Steady simple shear of an Oldroyd-A fluid Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
For constant simple shear flow rate , the nonpressure stress in the component-first gradient convention isThus the first normal-stress difference is , while the second is . Adding the incompressibility pressure changes neither difference.
Steady-state creep rate 2026-10-20
The approximately constant strain rate in secondary material creep at specified stress, temperature and material state. A lifetime estimate assumes that rate remains representative; evolving area, damage and tertiary material creep can shorten it.
Steady uniaxial extension of the Giesekus model Created 2026-10-25 Updated 2026-11-05
For uniaxial extensional flow with , write , , and the stress as . The displayed longitudinal equation is supplemented by . Choose the roots tending to zero at . For these roots have at every nonnegative rate. The stretching stress is finite at and the extensional viscosity tends to as . In the zero- Upper-convected Maxwell model, the physical steady longitudinal branch terminates at . Arbitrary positive is insufficient: gives the impossible real transverse equation .
Stellar asymmetric drift Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
Stellar asymmetric drift is the lag of a pressure-supported stellar population's mean rotation behind the local circular speed. Neglecting the tilted velocity ellipsoid, radial Jeans equation balance givesA declining density and larger random velocities generally increase the lag; gravitational balance is supplied partly by random-motion stresses.
Stellar thermal-wind balance Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
Taking the curl of axisymmetric hydrostatic equilibrium with centrifugal acceleration gives . For an approximately spherical ideal gas with constant composition, use to obtain the displayed relation. Latitudinal entropy differences can support noncylindrical differential rotation. A barotropic fluid gives cylindrical rotation in this leading balance; the relation does not determine the transport stresses or circulation rate.
Stiffness 2026-11-05
Stiffness describes the resistance of a specified mechanical system to displacement under an applied force. For a linear one-dimensional response measured from an unloaded reference,the stiffness is constant and has units . A nonlinear force-displacement curve requires a more specific definition: secant stiffness compares a finite change from a chosen reference, while tangent stiffness is the local derivative .
Stiffness depends on geometry as well as material. For a straight, uniform bar under axial linear elasticity,where is Young's modulus, is cross-sectional area and is length.[ref]
Structural Stiffness Concept by TU Delft OpenCourseWare. Axial relation delta=PL/(EA), force-deflection slope and geometrical contributions
Unlike the structural stiffness, Young's modulus relates stress to strain and is expressed in units of pressure.For an original example, take , and . ThenA axial load gives . Doubling only the length halves the stiffness and doubles this extension. The material's Young's modulus has remained the same.
Series and parallel spring stiffness depends on how the components are connected. Two identical ideal springs of stiffness carrying the same force in series have total extension , so their combined stiffness is . In parallel, equal displacement gives total force and combined stiffness . These relationships assume the stated force and displacement constraints.
The reciprocal is mechanical compliance in the scalar linear case. For a response involving several coupled displacements and forces, a stiffness matrix records the additional relationships; one scalar cannot describe every loading direction.
Strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling Created 2026-10-20 Updated 2026-11-05
Coupling in which a magnetic material's preferred strain transfers mechanical stress to a piezoelectric constituent, producing an electrical response. It depends on interfaces, elastic load sharing and electrical boundary conditions; a composite's measured voltage is not by itself an intrinsic single-phase magnetoelectric coefficient.
Strain rate Created 2026-10-25 Updated 2026-11-05
Strain rate measures how rapidly a material deforms. In a one-dimensional small-strain test, is extension rate divided by initial gauge length, with units . Stretching to the same final strain quickly or slowly can produce different stresses in a rate-dependent material.
For a general flow, the instantaneous local length-change rate is described by the rate-of-strain tensorA material line of current unit direction has relative length-change rate . This uses the velocity gradient and excludes rigid-body spin. In finite strain theory, is not simply the componentwise time derivative of every possible finite strain measure. Newtonian fluid stress depends on , while measurements at several strain rates test whether an elastic or plastic model needs explicit rate dependence.
Stress Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Stress describes how internal forces are transmitted across imagined surfaces within a material. Dividing a small contact force by the cut's area gives the traction, a vector that depends on surface orientation. The Cauchy stress tensor collects that dependence through , where is the oriented unit normal vector.
The part of traction perpendicular to a cut is normal stress; its tangential part is shear stress. For uniform axial loading, stress is , measured in pascals, but a general three-dimensional state needs the full tensor. A fluid at rest has in the tension-positive convention, whereas a stretched bar has a preferred loading direction. Changing the orientation of the imagined cut changes its traction without changing the physical loading. This is why one scalar pressure cannot represent every solid stress state.
Stress concentration 2026-11-05
A stress concentration is a localized increase of stress caused by geometry or another disturbance of the load path. Holes, notches and abrupt section changes can make the largest local normal stress much greater than a stress calculated from the total force divided by a reference cross-sectional area. A stress concentration factor is meaningful only after both the stress component and its reference have been specified.
The Kirsch equations give an instructive exact result for a circular hole of radius in an infinite, isotropic linear elastic elastic plate under remote tensile stress in one direction, using a plane stress model. Measure the polar angle from the loading direction. At the hole boundary,At , the tangential normal stress reaches , giving relative to remote stress. At , it is . A traction-free hole therefore does not require every component of its stress tensor to vanish: it requires zero traction on the radial boundary.[ref]
For a finite plate, distinguish gross and net reference areas. A plate of width , thickness and central hole diameter transmits force through gross area and minimum net area . Defining and gives the exact conversionThis is a change of normalization, not a solution for the finite plate's stress field. For an original numerical example, take , , and . The reference stresses are and . If the local maximum is stipulated as , the same physical maximum gives and . Neither number changes the local stress by choosing a different denominator.
The distinction appears in real historical measurements. In 1939, C. Dumont loaded a perforated aluminum-alloy plate in out-of-plane bending and measured strain and deflection at two loads. The reported peak tangential stress was 1.59 times the computed net-section stress, but 1.85 times the computed stress for an unperforated plate under the same bending forces. These are bending results for that geometry, rather than the infinite-plate tensile factor three.[ref]
Modern demonstrations can combine a metal plate instrumented with strain gauges and a transparent polymer viewed in a polariscope. The latter uses stress-induced birefringence; its fringes respond to differences of principal stresses. The MIT laboratory compares local and remote strain measurements with qualitative photoelasticity observations around holes and a slot.[ref]
Isotropic Linear Elastic Stress Concentration by MIT Mechanical Engineering. §§6–7, Figures 6–9 and strain-gauge procedure
The elastic stress concentration factor is dimensionless. It differs from the stress intensity factor used to describe a sharp crack's singular field. Local yielding or a crack changes the mechanical problem; multiplying a remote stress by the elastic does not, by itself, establish a failure load.
