What is the difference between actual stress and engineering stress

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Accepted Answer

Actual stress is the force applied to a material, while engineering stress is the force per unit area of the original cross-sectional area.

Actual stress is calculated using the actual area of the material that is being stressed, while engineering stress is calculated using the original cross-sectional area of the material.
Engineering stress is commonly used in engineering design and analysis, while actual stress is used in material testing and failure analysis.
For example, if a material is stretched to twice its original length, the engineering stress will be twice the original stress, but the actual stress will be higher due to the reduction in cross-sectional area.
Actual stress takes into account the deformation of the material, while engineering stress assumes that the material remains perfectly elastic.
The difference between actual stress and engineering stress becomes more significant as the material undergoes more deformation or strain.

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