Solid mechanics is the branch of
physics and
mathematics that concerns the behavior of solid matter under external actions (e.g., external
forces, temperature changes, applied displacements, etc.). It is part of a broader study known as
continuum mechanics.A material has a rest shape and its shape departs away from the rest shape due to stress. The amount of departure from rest shape is called
deformation, the proportion of deformation to original size is called
strain. If the applied stress is sufficiently low (or the imposed strain is small enough), almost all solid materials behave in such a way that the strain is directly proportional to the stress; the coefficient of the proportion is called the
modulus of elasticity or
Young's modulus. This region of deformation is known as the linearly elastic region.
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