Mohr’s diagram is a useful graphical representation of the stress state at a point.

In this graphical
representation the state of stress at a point is represented by the Mohr circle diagram, in which
the abscissa and give the normal and shear stress acting on a particular cut plane with a
fixed normal direction. In the general 3 dimensional case, for a given state of stress at a point, the
Mohr circle diagram has three circles as shown in Fig. 1. Mohr’s circle diagram is used
frequently in conjunction with failure criteria like the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion.

Figure 1: Mohr’s circle in three dimensional case (σ1 ≥ σ2 ≥ σ3)

Assume that the stress state at a point is given by the stress tensor:

(1)

The center of each circle in Mohr’s diagram lies on axis and is given by:

(2)

while the radii of the circles are calculated by:

(3)

for centers , and , respectively. If the principal stresses are known (may be calculated by
the stress tensor as shown in Principal stresses and stress invariants) then the above equations (2)
and (3) take the form (for the case ):

(4)

and

(5)

Consider an arbitrary cut plane that passes through the considered point. All the admissible
values of and for this plane lie inside or on the boundaries of the region bounded by the
circles , and (see Fig.1). The proof, however, will not be given in this article but it can
be found in many related books.

In order to calculate the normal and shear stresses acting on any plane, through Mohr’s circle
diagram, it is necessary to know the direction cosines of the normal unit vector of the plane with
respect to the principal directions. Assume that , and are the direction cosines of the plane
with respect to the principal directions of , and , respectively. For a given value of the
point lies on the arc as shown in Fig. 1. To construct this arc we draw line that
passes through and is parallel to axis. Then we measure angle from that line.
This line intersects the circle at points and . By using center as center (the only center that
does not depend on ) we draw the arc . Similarly, for direction cosine the point
lies on the arc . We draw line and measure angle . The intersection points
are and . Using center we draw the arc . Finally, we can do the same for direction
cosine . We measure angle from and using center we draw the arc .
Since, only two values of , and are independent, it is adequate to use only two direction
cosines in order to determine the values . The normal and shear stress is given by the
coordinates of intersection point . All arcs pass through that point, hence, one can use for
example and to calculate point and use to verify the procedure.

The Mohr’s circle diagram may be used to calculate graphically the normal and shear stresses on
a plane. Otherwise, the method described in Calculation of normal and shear stress on a plane
may be used.

Example

Consider the following stress state acting on a point:

 (6)

Calculate the normal and shear stress on the plane with normal vector:

(7)

Solution

From equations (4) and (5) we calculate the centers , and and the radii , and :

(8)

Next we draw Mohr’s circle diagram as shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 2: Mohr’s circle diagram example (3d).

From the direction cosines we calculate the angles , and :

(9)

Using the above angles (we need only two, for example and ) we draw the arcs and we find
the normal and shear stress on the plane:

(10)

We can also confirm the solution by using the methodology described in the article: Calculation
of normal and shear stress on a plane.

Suggested Bibliography

L.E. Malvern. Introduction to the Mechanics of a Continuous Medium. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey, 1969.

J.C. Jaeger, N.G.W. Cook and R.W. Zimmerman. Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics. Blackwell
Publishing, Malden MA, 4th edition, 2007.

W.F. Chen and D.J. Han. Plasticity for Structural Engineers. Springer-Verlag, New York,