Mohrs Circle for Plane Stress: Real Space and Mohr Space

Compiled by Ridho K. Wattimena 2004

The Mohr Circle is a tremendously useful way to plot stress and strain. Unfortunately, to derive it, we have to plow through a bit of trigonometry first.

Assumptions

Compression is positive, tension is negative. The system is not rotating or moving (it might be, but we imagine ourselves moving along with it. We're only interested in the forces that are acting to deform the rock on a local scale). The stresses can be defined in terms of two perpendicular longitudinal stresses. We call this a principal axis system. For any stress system, we can always find a principal axis coordinate system.

 Choose a suitable scale and plot S1 and S2 on the horizontal axis.

Draw a circle centered on the midpoint between S1 and S2 and passing through both. If the pole to the plane makes an angle A with the S1 direction, measure off 2A on the Mohr Circle. Point X represents the stress on the plane, with normal stress measured horizontally and shear measured vertically (green lines).

Three Fundamental Principles in Mohr Circles

Directions of planes are always represented by their poles Angles on the Mohr Circle are double the corresponding angles in real life. Always measure angles in the same sense in both real life and on Mohr Circles

What Does the Bottom Half of the Mohr Circle Represent

If we define positive normal stress as compression, then negative normal stress is obviously tension. Similarly, above the horizontal axis represents positive shear, and below represents negative. Only what exactly do positive and negative shear stress mean?

In the example we've been using, S1 is the larger stress and, given the tilt of the plane, slippage would tend to be left lateral if it were a fault. On this Mohr Circle, then, positive shear means leftlateral slip. If we were to flip the diagram vertically, we'd have right-lateral slip and negative shear.

But suppose we're looking at a dip-slip fault. Positive shear would correspond to thrust faulting, negative shear to normal faulting. Whatever the orientation of the fault, when slip occurs on the plane shown, it will result in counterclockwise rotation. For this diagram, then, positive is counterclockwise and negative is clockwise.

However, we cannot give a universal definition because different workers define the signs of stresses differently. All we can say is that positive and negative shear correspond to the different senses of shear motion (right lateral-left lateral, normal-thrust, clockwisecounterclockwise).

The only sure way to ascertain which is which is to work from the real-world stress situation and see where each type of shear plots on the Mohr Circle. Often we don't worry about the sense of shear and simply portray only the top half of the Mohr Circle to save space.

A Useful Tip

Recall that Shear Stress = ((S1 - S2)/2) sin 2A. Now we have defined terms so that S1 is always greater than S2, and sin 2A is always positive for A < 90 degrees. So in the real-world diagrams above, shear is always positive. Now if S2 = 0, then only S1 can exert a shear force on the plane. Therefore the shear sense is always determined by the larger stress. So ignore the smaller stress and observe which way the larger stress is pushing rocks on either side of the plane.

Example 1
Given the stresses shown at left, what are the normal and shear stresses on the plane shown?

Example 1
Recall that everything in Mohr space is done with reference to the pole to the plane, so the first thing to do is construct the pole and measure the angles between the pole and the stresses as shown.

Example 1
Next (below) we construct a graph and plot the Mohr Circle. Its center is at (Smax + Smin)/2 and its radius is (Smax Smin)/2. It passes through both Smax and Smin.

Example 1
Next (below) we plot the stress. Recall that all angles on the Mohr Circle are double the values in the real world, and all angles are measured in the same sense. When we plot the angles we find we are in the lower half of the diagram. We can see that in the real world the stresses would result in right-lateral slip, so on the Mohr Circle, negative shear means right-lateral shear. Remember that you have to determine the relationship between shear sense and sign from the real-world situation. Negative may not always be rightlateral!

Example 1

Example 1

Finally, we simply measure off the stresses as shown.

Example 2

Here we have the same geometry as before, but now one of the stresses is tensional.

Example 2

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Example 2
In the case above, where the two stresses were pushing in opposite directions along the plane, we had to think a bit to see that the shear on the plane was right lateral. Here, both stresses are pushing in the same direction along the plane, and the sense of shear is obvious. Also, since both principal stresses are acting in the same direction along the plane, the magnitude of the shear stress will be greater.

Sign Conventions

Since most stresses in geology are compression stresses, many workers prefer to define compression as positive and tension as negative. In situations where mathematical consistency is important, especially in more theoretical studies, it's best to define positive vectors as pointing in the positive axis direction. Thus positive stress points in the positive x-direction, away from the origin. In this system, tension is positive and compression is negative.

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Sign Conventions
To quote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, don't panic. Mohr Circles work equally well in either convention. Just be sure you know which convention is in use, follow it consistently, and always measure angles on the Mohr Circle in the same sense as in real life.

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