Engineering
Basic

Strain

Relative deformation of a material.

Formula

ε=ΔLL0\varepsilon = \frac{\Delta L}{L_0}

Variables

\Delta LChange in length
L_0Original length

Example

A 2 m rod stretched by 1 mm has strain ε = 0.001/2 = 0.0005.

Did You Know?

Strain is dimensionless — a pure ratio of how much something stretches relative to its length.

mechanicsstrainmaterial