4

I am going through a literature where these terms are regularly used and I am confused are they different and if yes then what does each term mean? I also want to know relation of plastic strength of a rock (say granite) with pressure. I mean which equation describes this relation?

atom44
  • 2,631
  • 11
  • 27
Ather Cheema
  • 141
  • 4
  • Is this geological engineering or materials engineering? You are asking specifically about a rock so I assume the former, but there is no relevant tag. – do-the-thing-please Oct 18 '16 at 12:20
  • @starrise I would like answer related to geological engineering. Could not find relevant tag actually. – Ather Cheema Oct 18 '16 at 13:12
  • With no knowledge myself, I'd start by looking at the units for each. If they differ, then at least you know they're describing different effects. – Carl Witthoft Oct 18 '16 at 13:24
  • 1
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is probably better suited for [Earthscience.SE]. – Chuck Oct 18 '16 at 14:43
  • 1
    That said, I'd imagine that the terms are coopted from the material science meanings - plastic yielding is deformation that doesn't "recover" when the stress is removed, and I'd guess the other terms are all synonymous and refer to the *point* at which the stress in the material is high enough that the material begins plastic yielding. – Chuck Oct 18 '16 at 14:45
  • 1
    @Chuck All these terms have their origin from engineering. – Ather Cheema Oct 18 '16 at 14:47
  • @AtherCheema - If you know the origin of the terms, I'm not sure what you're asking. Hooke's Law is the equation that describes the stress/strain relationship in the elastic range (with Young's Modulus). Everything outside that range is determined experimentally. This is assuming the granite is a *solid*. You might be able to get fluids equations to describe **flow** for liquid granite, but in that state there's not really a "plastic" yield. – Chuck Oct 18 '16 at 15:09
  • 1
    This question does not belong in Earth Science. Remove the references to granite & rock & it is about material properties, which is a function of engineering. Concrete can be regarded as an artificial rock/conglomerate. Besides, geological or geotechnical engineering are fields of **engineering**!Hence this question is still on topic here. I'm voting to keep this question open. – Fred Oct 19 '16 at 11:45

1 Answers1

6

All these terms refer to the effect of loading on the deformation of materials. Let us assume that we start with zero load and zero deformation.

Elastic deformation

If you increase the load you get an increase in deformation. During the process of elastic deformation, if you decrease the load to zero you will not have any residual non-zero deformation.

Plastic yielding

The process during which the material deforms to such an extent that when the load is removed the deformation does not return to its initial state. The material appears to flow like a fluid.

Plastic yield strength

The load beyond which elastic deformations cease to occur.

Plastic strength

This term is not specific enough and typically not used when technical accuracy is desired.

Plastic stress

This is another term that does not mean much and should be avoided. An alternative is the yield stress which means the same thing as plastic yield strength

Relation between yield stress and pressure

The term pressure can have multiple meanings depending on the context.

If you are thinking of a load applied to the surface of a rock sample, there is no straightforward way of relating the yield stress to the applied load. There are numerous models for rocks and other granular material. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_surface.

On the other hand if you are thinking of the change in hydrostatic yield stress with plastic strain, crush curves are typically used to model the evolution of caps on yield surfaces. See http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/15/061/15061729.pdf#page=43 for an example.

Rate-dependent plasticity If you load a rock sample in uniaxial strain compression at various speeds, the load at which it yields will appear to increase with the speed of loading. If you define the yield stress based on a low speed (quasistatic) test, the stress will appear to exceed the quasistatic yield stress.

Biswajit Banerjee
  • 1,453
  • 8
  • 14
  • What will the following sentence mean as it relates 'yield stress' to 'plastic failure'? **during plastic failure, predicted viscous shear stresses are larger than the yield stress** [http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:8852/eth-8852-02.pdf](Tobias Keller, 2013, ETH pp:41) – Ather Cheema Oct 21 '16 at 11:13
  • Sorry link in above comment does not work. This [ link ] (http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:8852/eth-8852-02.pdf ) will work. – Ather Cheema Oct 21 '16 at 11:18
  • See the last part of my answer. Viscous shear stress == rate-dependent plastic shear stress. – Biswajit Banerjee Oct 21 '16 at 19:36