Compressive

Compressive is an adjective describing something related to or characterized by compression, the process of reducing in volume or increasing in density. In science and engineering, compressive forces act to shorten or squeeze an object, and the effect can be described by concepts such as compressive stress and compressive strain.

In materials science, compressive stress is the internal force per unit area that resists compression; compressive strain is the resulting deformation. Materials have a limit known as compressive strength, the maximum compressive stress they can withstand before failing. Common materials with high compressive strength include concrete and masonry, while metals may rely on ductility to avoid brittle failure.

In structural engineering, members designed to carry primarily compressive loads include columns and struts. Design must account for buckling, a mode of instability that can occur when long or slender members experience compressive forces. Codes specify allowable stresses and safety factors to ensure stability.

In wave physics, a compressive wave is one that propagates by squeezing the medium, such as a primary (P) seismic wave or a sound wave in air.

In signal processing, compressive sensing is a method for reconstructing sparse signals from a small number of measurements, exploiting sparsity to reduce data collection. The term compressive in this context reflects the reduction of data required to recover the signal.