Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

crack parallel displacements

English answer:

displacement parallel to the crack

Added to glossary by RHELLER
Mar 22, 2004 20:34
20 yrs ago
English term

crack parallel displacements

English Science Science (general) cracks in materials, theory
The context is:
displacements of the material occur along the crack

I wonder whether rendering it as "crack parallel displacements" is legitimate from the English-grammar standpoint?

Any comments are much appreciated

Dmitrii

Discussion

Non-ProZ.com Mar 24, 2004:
Following Gillian's remark: "crack-parallel movement" is incorrect gramatically, and
"parallel-to-crack movement" seems OK.
Right?
Non-ProZ.com Mar 23, 2004:
No those websites are just examples; but the subject area is close to mine
RHELLER Mar 23, 2004:
seems to be a highly technical phrase - are these websites referring to the same composite you are working on? Yes,(U.S.)we often modify nouns like "displacement" with hyphenated adjectives like crack-parallel which (I assume) means parallel to the crack
Non-ProZ.com Mar 23, 2004:
Well I've just figured out what's wrong with my question.
What I wanted to know is whether phrases like "crack-parallel displacement/stress/compression" are grammatically correct, at least in scientific exposition.
Does the word-combination "crack-parallel displacement/stress/compression" mean that displacement or stress or compression occurs, or acts, along crack(s)?

Thank you for your patience

Dmitrii
Non-ProZ.com Mar 22, 2004:
here are some examples from USA-resident web-sites High resolution moire interferometry of crack parallel displacements (http://www.solids.caltech.edu/~wgk/)

Plane-strain buckling of a crack in a harmonic solid subjected to crack-parallel compression (http://tigger.uic.edu/~cwu/my_personal.htm)

The Effect of Crack-Parallel Stress and Mixed-Mode Loading
on Dynamic Crack Path Instability (www.agu.org/cgi-bin/sessionsf?meeting=fm00&part=T22D)

a Griffith crack can actually be strengthened (weakened) by a crack-parallel tension (compression... (http://tigger.uic.edu/~cwu/recent publications.htm)

while in the crack-parallel direction (www.engineeredcomposites.com/publications/ Kabele_DFRCC02.pdf)

Are they all wrong?

Responses

20 mins
Selected

displacement parallel to the crack

parallel to has a very specific meaning - it means that the crack lines are equidistant at all points. if this is not the case, I would suggest using a less specific term.

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Note added at 1 hr 26 mins (2004-03-22 22:00:47 GMT)
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Dear Dmitrii,

I never said it was incorrect. However, since you ( who are more familiar with the technical text here than we) are not entirely sure, I am proposing a more wordy phrasing. I believe it is correct - it\'s just a little bit longer.

When one is 100% sure one can condense adjectives to make the term shorter.

Your links look quite reliable. We are not specialists in this particular field...in fact, you didn\'t even name the particular field, you just said materials which is quite broad.

Good luck!

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Note added at 1 hr 28 mins (2004-03-22 22:02:47 GMT)
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FYI I am a native speaker, born and educated in California.

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Note added at 1 day 19 hrs 56 mins (2004-03-24 16:30:46 GMT)
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I do not think parallel should be eliminated as it defines the direction and location of the displacement.

It is true that these websites are written by non-native speakers. Much of the research done in high-level universities is carried out by non-native speakers.

I think we have exhausted this topic. The only other possibility (in addition to my original suggestion) is to use the term orientation/inclination to the plane but I do not think you are gaining much.

Inclination of the crack parallel to the plane of incidence XI in degrees (-45 ... Berlin - NDT Department VIII.4 The Federal Institute of Materials Research and ...
www.ndt.net/article/wuesten/wuesten.htm -
Peer comment(s):

agree Vicky Papaprodromou
15 mins
disagree Java Cafe : To be exact, there is no indication in the original text that the diplacements are parallel. They could occur alongside the cracks in any direction. The term "parallel" was a guess hazarded by the asker.
31 mins
how can you be so sure?
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks everybody. The discussion was really very instructive. Unfortunately, the system does not allow splitting the points--looks like a serious bug :). "
5 mins

transfer/movements

:)
Something went wrong...
4 mins

No.

One way of expressing this correctly would be "displacements alongside cracks" or "displacements along cracks".

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Note added at 17 mins (2004-03-22 20:52:18 GMT)
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If you really want to preserve the form, \"crack adjacent displacement\" might work, but this is tortured English. It would be best to use the form \"displacement adjacent to the crack\" (as an alternative to those suggested before).
Something went wrong...
10 hrs

some thoughts

It is not clear to me whether this term in your text or whether you want to know if this is a legitimate term to use. The original rendering isn't perfect, but its better than "crack-parallel displacements".
However, "displacements" of the material suggests different extents of movement i.e. some parts are displaced, others are not. This in turn suggests differing stresses acting on the material.
As for your suggestion "crack-parallel displacement": a stress can be parallel to the crack i.e. in the material itself. A displacement is generally at the crack itself and is thus intrinsically parallel to the crack. Personally, I would put the sentence into the passive:
e.g. the material is displaced (to differing extents) at the crack. There is no need to use "along" etc. as a displacement implies this direction anyway.
Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

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Note added at 1 day 10 hrs 28 mins (2004-03-24 07:03:14 GMT)
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RE your added note:

The URLs you give are nearly all written by non-native speakers (Chinese, German). Although crack-parallel is grammatically correct (the stress, compression acts parallel to the crack, displacement is a special case, as I have already mentioned), it sounds rather contrived. I\'m sure most native speakers would avoid this expression because parallel is always used with \"to\" so that it seems incorrect it use it as a modifier without the preposition - there is a sense of something missing. Therefore, I\'d rephrase and use \"stress parallel to the crack\" etc.

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Note added at 1 day 11 hrs 2 mins (2004-03-24 07:37:38 GMT)
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Hi again Dmitri,
crack-parallel movement is not grammatically incorrect per se, it is just rather awkward and strange without \"to\" and parallel-to-crack movement is just as contrived. I would just rephrase it, \"movement/displacement\" parallel to the crack as Rita suggested or use my \"displacement at the crack\" as parallel is rather redundant anyway.
Something went wrong...
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