Comment on "Dynamic analysis of the response of lateral piezoresistance gauges in shocked ceramics" [J. Appl. Phys. 82, 2845 (1997)] and "Determination of lateral stresses in shocked solids: Simplified analysis of piezoresistance gauge data" [J. Appl. Phys. 83, 747 (1998)]

The issue of lateral stress measurements, with piezoresistance gauges, is discussed by Feng [J. Appl. Phys. 82, 2845 (1997)] and Feng and Gupta [J. Appl. Phys. 83, 747 (1998)] using 2D numerical simulations. The purpose of this Comment is to highlight the difficulties with these simulations and to emphasize some of the results obtained in these articles, which strongly support our analytical approach to the subject. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(99)07918-9].