ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the properties and rules used to quantify the behaviour of solids when loaded. The behaviour of solids is of particular interest to construction engineers for the obvious reason that these are used to produce load-bearing structures. Design engineers organise things so that, as far as it is possible to predict, this will always be the case. There are clearly some intermediate materials, but engineers generally prefer to use ductile materials that give warning of distress before failure in the event of overload. Ductile materials not only undergo large strains before failure, but often have an apparent reduction of stress before failure. As the stress continues to fall the diameter at the neck also decreases, with very ductile materials, it reaches almost zero before failure, which takes the form of a sharp point. Failure stresses of brittle materials in compression are much higher than those in tension – up to twenty times higher for some materials, e.g. concrete.
