The stress ellipsoid is a useful mental tool for geometrically representing the state of three-dimensional stress at a point. Stress is a force per unit area, and the stress applied to a specific plane can be represented by a vector (a quantity that has both magnitude and direction). The stress vector associated with a plane need not be perpendicular to the plane; if it is not, the stress vector can be resolved into a normal component (perpendicular to the plane) and a shear component (parallel to the plane). At any point in a body of rock, one can imagine that there are an infinite number of planes, each with a different orientation, and if that body of rock is subjected to a compressive stress, a pair of inward-pointing stress vectors will be associated with each plane. The members of each pair must be equal in magnitude and opposite in orientation to their partner; otherwise, the rock body could not remain at rest. If all the stress vectors associated with the infinite number of...
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References
Means, W. D., 1976, Stress and Strain. New York: Springer-Verlag, 339p.
Nadai, A., 1950, Theory of Flow and Fracture of Solids. New York: McGraw-Hill, 572p.
Nye, J. F., 1957, Physical Properties of Crystals. London: Oxford, 322p.
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© 1987 Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc.
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Marshak, S. (1987). Stress ellipsoid . In: Structural Geology and Tectonics. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31080-0_108
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31080-0_108
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