4.4 Relationship between boundary conditions and tractions

  • Tractions are usually referenced to an external surface (boundary condition)
    • However, it is also useful for stress transformations
  • A traction vector is the intensity of stress at a given point over the area of given orientation.
  • Displacements or tractions can be specified as external boundary conditions
  • As a practical note, tractions and displacements are conjugates. Typically only one or the other will be specified on each surface in a boundary value problem. (The other is calculated.)