Mohr’s 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.

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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.

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• 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

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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 left-
lateral slip. If we were to flip the diagram vertically, we'd
have right-lateral slip and negative shear.

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„ 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, clockwise-
counterclockwise).

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„ 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.

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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.

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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 right-
lateral!

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Example 1

Example 1

Finally, we simply
measure off the
stresses as shown.

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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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