- #1
JonnyG
- 234
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I am reading the wikipedia article on the Cauchy stress-tensor. The article says that given some object, let ##P## be a point in the object and let ##S## be a plane passing through that point. Then "an element of area ##\Delta S## containing ##P##, with normal vector ##n##, the force distribution is equipollent to a contact force ##\Delta F## and surface moment ##\Delta M##. In particular, the contact force is given by ##\Delta F = T^n \Delta S##".
Now, I have always thought of force as a vector field, meaning that in this case, each individual point in ##S## would be assigned a vector which represents the force at that point. It seems that ##\Delta F## is some kind of average force though. It is defined in terms of ##T^n##, which is the "mean surface traction". What is the definition of mean surface traction? I have googled it and cannot find a definition.
Now, I have always thought of force as a vector field, meaning that in this case, each individual point in ##S## would be assigned a vector which represents the force at that point. It seems that ##\Delta F## is some kind of average force though. It is defined in terms of ##T^n##, which is the "mean surface traction". What is the definition of mean surface traction? I have googled it and cannot find a definition.