MEMORANDUM

To:

Professor Karen Thompson

From:

Charles Wilson

Date:

December 24, 2014

Subject:

Extended Technical Definition and Developed Technical Description

The purpose of this memo is to provide context for the extended technical definition and developed
technical description submitted along with this document. I chose to define and describe a concept from
the subject of mechanics and materials known as stress. I have outlined the audience, need, and
placement as a preface to my definition and description.
Audience
My audience is students in the early stages of their studies in the field of engineering and the material
sciences.
Need
A firm understanding of the concept of stress is crucial to the foundation for understanding the
properties and behavior of materials. Understanding stress completely will prevent a common confusion
of this concept with another fundamental concept known as strain. Understanding stress and strain and
being able to distinguish between the two will assist with the students ability to understand more
complex concepts in the fields of materials and mechanics.
Placement
The extended technical definition and the developed technical description would be provided as
handouts in an introductory course for the material science or the mechanics of materials. Most
appropriately, the handout would be provided at the beginning of a chapter on the topic of stress as a
supplement to the text book.
In my extended technical definition of stress I provide a simple introduction to the concept. This
introduction includes a sentence definition of the term, an explanation of the key words in the sentence
definition, the Greek alpha character representation of stress, the common units of stress and a simple
example.
In my developed technical description of stress I elaborate on the common types of stress and the
characteristics that define them. I also provide a brief list of insights that understanding stress will
provide to express why understanding stress is important.

Extended technical definition

Sentence Definition
In the fields of material science and mechanics of materials, stress is the intensity of internal force that
an object, member, or component experience s when an external force is applied.
Explanation of Units and the Relationship between Force and Area
The units of stress are Force/Area. A force is a vector that has both a magnitude and a direction. The
amount of stress that an object, member or component experiences is dependent upon the cross
sectional area of consideration. Because of the relationship between the magnitude, direction, and cross
sectional area, stress can be thought of as an intensity.
Stress is represented by the Greek alpha character sigma (). The most common English units used to
characterize stress are

or psi (pounds per square inch). The most common metric units used to

characterize stress are Pascal (PA) which have base units of 2 (Newton per square meter).
Example
Figure (1) here we see a circular
member of cross sectional area (0 )
experiencing an external force (F).

0 =

If a circular member of diameter (D=0.5 in) experiences and axial force of 5,000lbs then the stress can be
calculated
=

5000
5000

=
=
= 25,500 2
2
2

0.19635

In other words, the circular member is experiencing 25,000 pounds of force for every square inch of
material in the cross section being considered.

Figure (1) - https://www.nde-ed.org

Developed Technical Description

There are three basic types of stress; normal stress, shear stress, and bearing stress. The following
outlines these various states of stress and provides visual examples of them.
Normal Stress
The state of stress known as normal stress
is call normal not because it is the
average or most common state of stress
but because this is the type of stress that is
used to characterize a plane of material in
an object, member, or component that is
perpendicular (normal) to the vector of the
external force that is being applied.
Figure (1) Normal Stress
Shear stress
Shear stress (figure 2) is the state of stress that a plane of material
in a member, object or component experiences that is parallel to
the vector of the external force that is being applied. The word
shear characterizes this stress state because it causes a particular
plane of material to want to separate from the adjacent planes of
material in a sliding or shearing way.
Shear stress is represented by the Greek alpha character tau
() and has the same units and calculating procedure as normal
stress.

Figure (2) Sheer Stress

Bearing Stress
Bearing stress is a specific category of normal stress. The
only difference is that it is used to characterize the stress of
the plane of material of the object, component, or member
that is in contact with another object, component or
member. This contacting surface is known as a load bearing
surface. The bearing stress is calculated in the same way as
normal stress and is represented by the Greek alpha
character Sigma with a subscript b ( ).
Figure (3) Bearing Stress

Understanding stress and its various states will provide insight about an objects structural integrity. It
can help predict if the object is strong enough to withstand the expected load that will be applied.
Understanding the stress within a material can also predict how much the object will bend, stretch or
compress. It can also help predict sudden failures such as fracturing or buckling.
Figure (1) - https://www.nde-ed.org
Figure (2) - http://forums.autodesk.com
Figure (3) - http://www.nptel.ac.in