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Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Stress Distribution During Cold Compression of Rocks and Mineral Aggregates Using Synchrotron-based X-Ray Diffraction
Published on: May 20, 2018
Microscopic and macroscopic stress with gravitational and rotational forces
Wm G Hoover1, Carol G Hoover, James F Lutsko
1Ruby Valley Research Institute, Highway Contract 60, Box 598, Ruby Valley, Nevada 89833, USA.
Abstract:
Many recent papers have questioned Irving and Kirkwood's atomistic expression for stress. In Irving and Kirkwood's approach both interatomic forces and atomic velocities contribute to stress. It is the velocity-dependent part that has been disputed. To help clarify this situation we investigate (i) a fluid in a gravitational field and (ii) a steadily rotating solid. For both problems we choose conditions where the two stress contributions, potential and kinetic, are significant. The analytic force-balance solutions of both these problems agree very well with a smooth-particle interpretation of the atomistic Irving-Kirkwood stress tensor.
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