effective stress
Quick Summary
In the context of physical sciences and engineering, stress refers to the force per unit area within materials. This arises from external forces, uneven heating, or permanent deformation, and is crucial for understanding material behavior.1
Soil mechanics is the study of the physical properties and utilization of soils, particularly for planning foundations and subgrades. Key properties of soil that influence its ability to support stress include internal friction, cohesion, compressibility, elasticity, permeability, and capillarity.2
Effective stress is a concept within soil mechanics that describes the stress carried by the soil skeleton, excluding the pore water pressure. It is fundamental to understanding how soils behave under load, influencing their strength and deformation.2
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