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Shear Strain
Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin
- Green Bay
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Simple Shear
Perhaps the most familiar illustration of shear is the movement of
rocks on opposite sides of a fault as shown here. Because this type
of shear is the easiest to visualize, it is called simple shear.
Imagine when the fault starts moving we draw a line at right angles
to the fault. As the fault slips, the line rotates (and also lengthens),
and angle A increases. However, angle A will never reach 90
degrees unless the slip on the fault is infinite.
Note that we are not concerned about the line changing length.
That's longitudinal strain. With shear strain we are only concerned
about the change in angles.
Pure Shear
Any time an object is deformed, shear occurs.
For example, in the top row a block is deformed
without changing area. It looks like the only
deformation involved is compression and
extension.
However, if we examine the diagonals of the
block (bottom row) we see that there is indeed
shear because the angle between the diagonals
changes. This sort of shear is called pure shear.
The blocks above have undergone shear strains of 0, 0.5, 1.0 and
1.5. The top row has undergone simple shear, the bottom row pure
shear. Angles 90-A and 90+A (shown for the shear=0.5 case) are the
same in each corresponding pair of diagrams. Note that the ellipses
are the same shape.
Simple Shear:
One direction remains constant and everything else rotates
relative to it. Approximates the situation in a shear zone.
Pure Shear
Directions of greatest compression and extension are constant.
The major and minor axes of the deforming ellipse remain
constant. All other lines rotate.
An Unkind Parting Thought
Neither of the situations described in simple and pure shear is likely
to occur exactly in nature. Most of the time stress directions and
magnitudes change over time and everything in a deforming body of
rock rotates. Shear may be clockwise at one time and
counterclockwise at others. The real complexity of deformation in
rocks has led some geologists to claim: "Pure shear is pure
nonsense and simple shear is simple nonsense". However, like
bodies falling without air resistance or sliding without friction, they
are useful ideal concepts and first approximations to complex reality.