Engineering Stress

What this is

The following sections below provide a (sometimes silly) introduction to what Engineering Stress is, why it's important, how it's calculated and visualized, and an interactive tool to show how stress is created under various loads.

Who it's for

While the analogies and explanations are made to be easy to understand, some descriptions do end up getting into the weeds where having a base understanding of the following is helpful: Algebra, Forces, Moments, Reactions, Area, Area Moment of Inertia, Basic Statics, and maybe an affinity for bears.

Why it's here

This page is intended as a resource for introductory engineering courses such as Mechanics of Materials, where terms like "Stress" are first introduced. The tool can also be used as an aid to those textbook problems that involve basic 3D cantilever beams, helping to visualize and show the calculation processes a student must go through to solve them.

Getting Started

Calculating Stress

Stress Visualization

Stress Tool

This website put together as the Graduate Project for Jacob Mintz through San Jose State University, August 2020. For maintenance, questions, compliments, or to discuss cool bear facts, please reach out to jacob.j.mintz@gmail.com