When a force acts on a structure, that force becomes a load to the structure.
A typical load that acts on a structure is it's own self-weight or gravitational force. Your own body weight is a load on your skeleton.
There are basically two types of generic loading on a structure:
- Permanent load: it doesn't vary over the time (e.g. own weight).
- Variable load: it varies over the time (e.g. weight of snow).
Stress (internal force) is a force that appears when a structure receives an external force.
There are typically 5 different types of stress:
a) Tension
b) Compression
c) Shear
d) Bending
e) Torsion
b) Compression
c) Shear
d) Bending
e) Torsion