Which type of stress can NOT be produced by mechanical forces on a structure?

• A. Elastic
• B. Tensile
• C. Shear
• D. Compressive

Answer: (A)

When a structure is loaded, the stress states you deal with are regular: normal stresses that pull or push along the axis, giving tensile or compressive stresses, and shear stresses that cause sliding between layers. Elastic describes how the material behaves under those stresses—whether it returns to its original shape after the load is removed—rather than a separate kind of stress itself. So while a material can be in its elastic range under tensile, compressive, or shear loading, “elastic” is about the deformation response, not a distinct stress type. That’s why elastic cannot be produced as a separate stress state by mechanical forces on a structure; the actual stress states are tensile, compressive, and shear.