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TheMohrCircle

TheMohrCircle
StevenDutch,NaturalandAppliedSciences,UniversityofWisconsinGreenBay
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TheMohrCircleisatremendouslyusefulwaytoplotstressandstrain.Unfortunately,toderiveit,wehave
toplowthroughabitoftrigonometryfirst.Intheexamplethatfollows,we'llassume:
Compressionispositive,tensionisnegative.
Thesystemisnotrotatingormoving(itmightbe,butweimagineourselvesmovingalongwithit.We're
onlyinterestedintheforcesthatareactingtodeformtherockonalocalscale).
Thestressescanbedefinedintermsoftwoperpendicularlongitudinalstresses.Wecallthisaprincipal
axissystem.Foranystresssystem,wecanalwaysfindaprincipalaxiscoordinatesystem.

DerivationoftheMohrCircle

Whatstressesareactingontheinclinedplaneshownhere?ThestressparalleltothexaxisisS1,thatparallelto
theyaxisisS2.Tosimplifyconversionsbetweenstressandforce,weassumetheplanehasunitarea.Thepoleto
theplane(inblue)makesanangleAwiththexaxis.
Bytheway,wedefinecompressiontobepositiveandtensionasnegative.

Unfortunately,stressescan'tbeaddedasvectors,onlyforcescan.Becausetheplaneistilted,stressS1"sees"
onlypartoftheplane.ThecrosssectionalareaviewedalongthexaxisiscosA.Similarly,stressS2"sees"onlya
smallpartoftheplane;thecrosssectionalareaviewedalongtheyaxisissinA.Sinceforceequalsstresstimes
area,theforceF1exertedparalleltothexaxisisS1cosA,andtheforceF2exertedparalleltotheyaxisisS2sinA.
F1=S1cosA
F2=S2sinA

Tofindtheforceactingperpendicular(ornormal)totheplane,wefindthecomponentsofF1andF2
perpendiculartotheplane(greenarrows).Theyarebothactinginthesamedirection,sothetotalforceistheir
sum.Thus:
NormalForce=F1cosA+F2sinA

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Tofindtheforceactingparalleltotheplane(theshearforce),wefindthecomponentsofF1andF2parallelto
theplane(greenarrows).Theseareactinginoppositedirections,sothetotalforceistheirdifference.Thus:
ShearForce=F1sinAF2cosA

Fromtheabove,wehave
NormalForce=F1cosA+F2sinA
ShearForce=F1sinAF2cosA
Also,bothforcesareactingontheentireplane,whichmeansthestresses(forceperunitarea)havethesamemagnitude(thoughnotthesameunits).
NormalStress=F1cosA+F2sinA(perunitarea)
ShearStress=F1sinAF2cosA(perunitarea)
Also,weknowthat:
F1=S1cosA
F2=S2sinA
ThereforewecanexpressthenormalandshearstressesintermsofS1andS2asfollows:
NormalStress=S1cosAcosA+S2sinAsinA
=S1cos2A+S2sin2A
ShearStress=S1cosAsinAS2sinAcosA
Fromelementarytrigonometry,werecallthedoubleangleformulas:
cos2A=cos2sin2=12sin2=2cos21
sin2A=2sinAcosA
Wecanrearrangethetermstoget:
sin2=(1cos2A)/2
cos2=(cos2A+1)/2
sinAcosA=(sin2A)/2
Finallywecansubstitutefunctionsof2Aintotheequationsfornormalandshearstresstoget:
NormalStress=S1(cos2A+1)/2+S2(1cos2A)/2
=(S1+S2)/2+((S1S2)/2)cos2A
ShearStress=((S1S2)/2)sin2A
Nowtheequationforacirclewithcenter(p,0)andradiusris
x=p+rcost
y=rsint
Theseformulasareidenticalinformtotheformulasfornormalandshearstress.Thus,ifwedrawagraph
ofnormalandshearstressandplotallthenormalandshearstressesforeveryvalueofA,theywouldplot
onacirclewhosecenteris(S1+S2)/2andwhoseradiusis(S1S2)/2.ThiscircleiscalledtheMohrCircle.

RealSpaceandMohrSpace

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Inthediagramabove,aplanesubjecttostressesS1andS2isshownatleftandtheMohrCirclecalculation
ofthestressesontheplaneatright.ChooseasuitablescaleandplotS1andS2onthehorizontalaxis.Draw
acirclecenteredonthemidpointbetweenS1andS2andpassingthroughboth.Ifthepoletotheplane
makesanangleAwiththeS1direction,measureoff2AontheMohrCircle.PointXrepresentsthestresson
theplane,withnormalstressmeasuredhorizontallyandshearmeasuredvertically(greenlines).

ThreeFundamentalPrinciplesofMohrCircles
Directionsofplanesarealwaysrepresentedbytheirpoles
AnglesontheMohrCirclearedoublethecorrespondinganglesinreallife.
AlwaysmeasureanglesinthesamesenseinbothreallifeandonMohrCircles

WheredoAnglesFrom180to360Go?
SinceanglesaredoubledontheMohrCircle,anyanglesinreallifegreaterthan180degreeswillbegreater
than360ontheMohrCircle.Theywillsimplyrepeatthemselves.Thisisnotaproblem,becauseanystress
systemnotinvolvingrotationissymmetrical.Wecouldperformstresscalculationsforaplaneoriented180
degreesfromtheplaneinthediagramandtheresultswouldbeidentical.Infact,thepoletotheplane
wouldbeidenticaltheplanewouldmerelybefacingintheoppositedirection.Thusstressesonaplane
orientedatangleAandoneat180+Aareidentical.Thusanangle2AontheMohrCirclecanalsorepresent
anangle360+2A(correspondingtoaplanewhosepolehasazimuth180+A).

WhatDoestheBottomHalfoftheMohrCircleRepresent?
Ifwedefinepositivenormalstressascompression,thennegativenormalstressisobviouslytension.
Similarly,abovethehorizontalaxisrepresentspositiveshear,andbelowrepresentsnegative.Onlywhat
exactlydopositiveandnegativeshearstressmean?

Intheexamplewe'vebeenusing,S1isthelargerstressand,giventhetiltoftheplane,slippagewouldtend
tobeleftlateralifitwereafault.OnthisMohrCircle,then,positiveshearmeansleftlateralslip.Ifwe
weretoflipthediagramvertically,we'dhaverightlateralslipandnegativeshear.
Butsupposewe'relookingatadipslipfault.Positiveshearwouldcorrespondtothrustfaulting,negative
sheartonormalfaulting.
Whatevertheorientationofthefault,whenslipoccursontheplaneshown,itwillresultin
counterclockwiserotation.Forthisdiagram,then,positiveiscounterclockwiseandnegativeisclockwise.
However,wecannotgiveauniversaldefinitionbecausedifferentworkersdefinethesignsofstresses
differently.Allwecansayisthatpositiveandnegativeshearcorrespondtothedifferentsensesofshear
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motion(rightlateralleftlateral,normalthrust,clockwisecounterclockwise).Theonlysurewaytoascertain
whichiswhichistoworkfromtherealworldstresssituationandseewhereeachtypeofshearplotsonthe
MohrCircle.Oftenwedon'tworryaboutthesenseofshearandsimplyportrayonlythetophalfofthe
MohrCircletosavespace.
AUsefulTip:RecallthatShearStress=((S1S2)/2)sin2A.NowwehavedefinedtermssothatS1isalways
greaterthanS2,andsin2AisalwayspositiveforA<90degrees.Sointherealworlddiagramsabove,shear
isalwayspositive.NowifS2=0,thenonlyS1canexertashearforceontheplane.Thereforetheshear
senseisalwaysdeterminedbythelargerstress.Soignorethesmallerstressandobservewhichwaythe
largerstressispushingrocksoneithersideoftheplane.

AboutSignConventions
Therearetwosignconventionsforstressinuseinstructuralgeology:
Sincemoststressesingeologyarecompressional,manyworkersprefertodefinecompressionaspositive
andtensionasnegative.
Insituationswheremathematicalconsistencyisimportant,especiallyinmoretheoreticalstudies,it's
besttodefinepositivevectorsaspointinginthepositiveaxisdirection.Thuspositivestresspointsinthe
positivexdirection,awayfromtheorigin.Inthissystem,tensionispositiveandcompressionisnegative.
ToquotetheHitchhiker'sGuidetotheGalaxy,don'tpanic.MohrCirclesworkequallywellineither
convention.Justbesureyouknowwhichconventionisinuse,followitconsistently,andalwaysmeasure
anglesontheMohrCircleinthesamesenseasinreallife.
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Created13May1999,LastUpdate13May1999
NotanofficialUWGreenBaysite

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