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Shearing (physics)

Deformation due to shear stress / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In continuum mechanics, shearing refers to the occurrence of a shear strain, which is a deformation of a material substance in which parallel internal surfaces slide past one another. It is induced by a shear stress in the material. Shear strain is distinguished from volumetric strain. The change in a material's volume in response to stress and change of angle is called the angle of shear.

A wood-framed clapboard house, the walls WAY out of plumb.
The rectangularly-framed section has deformed into a parallelogram (shear strain), but the triangular roof trusses have resisted the shear stress and remain undeformed