Investigating the Strength of Materials: Introduction

Abstract

The strength of a material (such as soil or a rock face) can be described as its maximum resistance to an applied stress (Whittow, 1984). When a landform responds to stress, such as a landslide on a hillslope, its point of failure, generally termed a shear plane, is related to the combination of vertical stress (due to gravity) and normal stress, which acts at right angles to the shear plane (Crozier, 1986, Summerfield, 1991). Counteracting this force are two main processes of resistance, cohesion and friction (Whittow, 1984). It is the balance of these forces that will determine the stability of a landscape and its resistance to perturbations in the natural environment, such as a storm even..