The purpose of this tutorial is to introduce the undergraduate student to the mathematical theory and principals of basic stress analysis. It is therefore written for the undergraduate student who has completed at least one semester course in college algebra, and who is enrolled in a course on structural geology.
In the following chapters descriptive and mathematical aspects of the theory of stress are interwoven with computer illustrations written in HTML 4.0. However, the basic core of the tutorial are a series of interactive exercises that require the use of the accompanying program Visualizing Stress. It is hoped that this rather unique approach will make the subject matter more entertaining, and in the same breath leave the student with an intuitive understanding of the complexities and beauty of stress.
Essential topics covered in this tutorial include:
How force relates to stress using Newton's first and second laws.
The units of stress and how to convert one to another.
How traction's are defined and calculated.
How lithostatic pressures are calculated.
A graphical approach to understanding the stress tensor and how it relates to the definition of s1, s2, and s3.
Derivation of the normal and shear stress equations that define the Mohr circle of stress.
A graphical approach to using the Mohr circle for solving stress problems when two of the three principal stress directions and their magnitudes are known.
The effect of pore pressures on stress.
Mohr failure fnvelope as approached from a graphical analysis of triaxial stress test data extracted from the literature.