Stress Components on a Loaded Body

Stress components on a loaded body can be found by cutting the body through a point with a plane parallel to the xy plane. That section carries the original loads, along with normal forces and shearing forces. The result is a simple way to describe how a structure responds under combined loading.

Consider a body subjected to multiple loads. When dissected through a point using a plane parallel to the xy plane, it is observed that the shearing forces act on a small area surrounding the point.

Consider a portion of the body subjected to the previously shown loads, with the normal force acting along the z-axis

The shearing for...