Effective stress
Effective stress is a fundamental concept in soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering that describes the portion of total stress in a soil mass that is carried by the solid soil skeleton, rather than the pore water. It is crucial for understanding the mechanical behaviour of soils, as effective stress governs both the strength and volume change (deformation) of soil.
More formally, effective stress is defined as the stress that, for any given pore pressure , produces the same strain or strength response in a porous material (such as soil or rock) as would be observed in a dry sample where . In other words, it is the stress that controls the mechanical behaviour of a porous body regardless of pore pressure present. This concept applies broadly to granular media like sand, silt, and clay, as well as to porous materials such as rock, concrete, metal powders and biological tissues.
