APPLICATIONS/

MOHRS CIRCLE

Special Forms of the Stress Tensor

Uniaxial stress is given by:

0
0
0

Fig. 1. Examples of special state of

stress: (a) Uniaxial; (b) biaxial; (c)
hydrostatic; (d) pure shear

 Biaxial Stress:

1 0 0
0 0
2
0

 Hydrostatic Pressure:

p 0 0
0 p 0

0 p
0
It is a occurs in liquids; it is a
special case of triaxial stress,
when the three principal stresses
are equal.
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 Pure Stress:

0
0

0
0

It is a special case of biaxial

stress, as will be seen by
performing a 45o rotation.
Students are required to show
that the above statement is
correct.
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 Applying the transformation law, we have:

new

l11 =

2;
2

From Eq. 4-14

old
l11 l12
l21
l22

2;
2
2
l21 = 2

l12 =

l22 =

2;
2

11 = 2l11l1212 = 12
22 = 2l21l2212 = -12
Hence, we have

0
0

0
0

 Fig. 2. A state of pure shear stress and strain in an isotropic material.

Important Stresses in Plasticity

It is often useful to decompose ij into two components:

ij ij' ij ij''
Deviatoric, or Deviator,
or Shear stress Tensor

12
( 11 m )

12 ( 11 m )
12

12

Spherical, or Hydrostatic,
or Dilatational stress Tensor

13

23

( 11 m )

[Responsible for Failure]

(4-33)

0
m 0
0
m 0
0

[Does Not cause Deformation]

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 It can be found that m has to be equal to:

m

11 22 33
I1

3
3

(4-34)

The deviatoric (or shear) components of stress are

responsible for failure (under shear) or distortion.
The hydrostatic (or spherical) stress produces volume
change and does not cause any plastic deformation.
This explains why shrimp can live in great ocean depths
without problems.
The above stress components are often used in plasticity.
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 Consider a shrimp under two conditions:

(a) depth of 100 m, with hydrostatic pressure of 1.0 MPa
acting on it, and
(b) squeezed between our fingers, with an applied stress
(uniaxial) of about 0.5 MPa.
While the Hydrostatic pressure will not bother the
shrimp, it will certainly crush under the applied tensile
stress.
The difference between the two cases is the deviatoric
stress, which is 0 and 0.25 MPa for cases (a) and (b)
respectively.

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2-D TRANSFORMATION
Recall the three equations obtained for the 2-D
transformation of stress:
x y x y
x'

cos 2 xy sin 2
2
2

y'
x' y '

x y x y

cos 2 xy sin 2
2
2
x y

sin 2 xy cos 2
2

(4-35a)

(4-35b)

(4-35c)

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 ***As in all Transformation cases, Eqs. 4-35 give the

variation of and with direction in the material***.
The direction being specified by the angle relative to
the originally chosen x-y coordinate system.
Taking the derivative d/d of Eq. 4-35(a) and equating
the result to zero gives the coordinate axes rotations for
the maximum and minimum values of .
2 xy
tan 2 n
(4-36)
x y
Two angles n separated by 90o satisfies Eq. 3-36
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 The corresponding maximum and minimum normal

stresses from Eq. 4-35, called the principal normal
stresses can be obtained by substituting 4-36 into 4-35,
and is given as:
x y
1, 2

x y

2
xy

(4-37)

Note that the shear stress at the n orientation is found to

be zero.
Conversely, if the shear stress is zero, then the normal
stresses are the principal normal stresses
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 Similarly, Eq. 4-35c and d/d = 0 gives the coordinate

axes rotation for the maximum shear stress.
x y
tan 2 s
2 xy

(4-38)

The corresponding shear stress from Eq. 4-35c is

max

x y

2
xy

(4-39)

This is the maximum shear stress in the x-y plane and

is called the principal shear stress.
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 max can be expressed in terms of the principal normal

stresses 1 and 2 by substituting Eq. 4-39 into 4-37 to
obtain
1 2
(4-40)
max
2

The absolute value is necessary for max due to the two

roots in Eq. 4-39

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Example
At a point of interest on the free surface of an
engineering component, the stresses with respect to a
convenient coordinate system in the plane of the surface
are x = 95, y = 25, xy = 20 MPa. Determine the
principal stresses and the orientations of the principal
planes.

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Solution (A)
Substitution of the given values into Eq. 4-36 gives the
angle to the coordinate axes of the principal normal
2 xy
4
stresses.
tan 2 n

x y
7
n = 14.9o (CCW)
Substituting into Eq. 4-37 gives the principal normal
stresses
x y
x y 2
2
1, 2
(
) xy
2

1, 2 = 60 40.3 = 100.3, 19.7 MPa

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Solution (B)
Alternatively, a more rigorous procedure is to use = n
= 14.9 in Eq. 4-35a, which gives
= x = 1 = 100.3 MPa
Use of = n + 90o = 104.9o in Eq. 4-35a then gives the
normal stress in the other orthogonal direction.
= y = 2 = 19.7 MPa
The zero value of at = n can also be verified by using
Eq. 4-35c.
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Mohrs Circle
A convenient graphical representation of the
transformation equations for plane stress.
On versus coordinates, these equations can be shown
to represent a circle, called Mohrs circle.
The Development is as follows:
Isolate all terms of Eq. 4-35a containing on one side.
Then square both sides of 4-35a and 4-35c and sum.
Invoke simple trigonometric identities to eliminate , and
we obtain

x y

2

x y

2

2
xy

(4-41)

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 This equation is of the form:

a 2 b 2 r 2

(4-42)

which is the equation of a circle on a plot of versus

with center at the coordinates (a, b) and radius r, where
x y
x y

a
, b 0, r

2
2

2
xy

(4-43)

Comparison with Eq. 4-37 and 4-39, revealed that the

maximum and minimum normal stresses can be written
as:
x y
(4-44)
1, 2 a r
max
2

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 Confusion concerning the signs in Mohrs circle can be

resolved as follws:
For shear, the portion that causes clockwise rotation is
considered positive, and the portion that causes counterclockwise rotation is considered negative
For normal stresses, tension is positive, and compression
is negative.

Graduate students are required to read up the 3-D

Mohrs circle.

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Problem
Repeat the previous problem using Mohrs circle
method. Recall that the original state of stress is
x = 95, y = 25, and xy = 20 MPa

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Solution
The circle is obtained by plotting two points that lie at
opposite ends of a diameter
, x , xy 95, 20 MPa

, x , xy 25, 20 MPa
A negative sign is applied to xy for the point associated
with x because the shear arrows on the same planes as x
tend to cause a counter-clockwise rotation.
Similarly, a positive sign is used for xy when associated
with y, due to the clockwise rotation.
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 Recall Eq. 4-43

x y
a

x y

, b 0, r

2

2
xy

The center of the circle is (a, b), which lies on the

axis:
x y
, ctr.
, 0 60, 0 MPa
2

The hypotenuse of the triangle/ radius of the circle is

also the principal shear stress, which is given as:
r max

x y

2
xy

352 202 40.3 MPa

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 The angle with the - axis is

tan 2 n

20

35

2 n 29.74o (CCW )

A counter-clockwise rotation of the diameter of the

circle by this 2n gives the horizontal diameter that
corresponds to the principal normal stress.
Their values are obtained from Eq. 4-44:
x y
1, 2 a r
max
2

1, 2 = 100.3 and 19.7 MPa

25

, MPa

60

(60, 40.3)

(25, 20)
(100.3, 0)
(19.7, 0)

2n

, MPa

(95, -20)
(60, -40.3)

Mohrs circle corresponding to the state of stress

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