General Stress state in 2D

For finding the stress in any arbitrarily oriented plane we need to transform the co-ordinates:

XY => XY

The following transformation equations can be derived for the new plane oriented at

Equations 1, 2, 3 respectively
The sum of the x- and y-
components remain constant in the
transformed co-ordinates

In the 3rd equation, we set the shear (xy) = 0 [its possible for certain values of definitely].
Then we get the following: Equation 4

p indicates in those special planes, known as Principal Planes.

p basically denote two planes x and y where the normal stresses are only existent and they
either have maximum of minimum values. This can also be seen by taking derivative of 1st and
2nd equations against .

The values of the ultimate normal stresses (one max the other min) are given by the following:

Equation 5

Setting dxy/d = 0 gives us another important plane where xy or shear stress is maximum at
certain values of s .So we get the following:

The value of maximum shear is given by:

Equation 6

[check the appearance with the max/min or normal stresses]

Mohrs Circle representation:
German scientist Otto Mohr proposed to eliminate the angular transformation parameter and
instead of analytical approach of solving plane stress problems, introduced a graphical method:

We can re-write the transformation equations as:

By simple trigonometric substitution, these relationships can be manipulated and re-rewritten as

As we can see, this represents the equation of a circle, where the term doesnt appear.

We can make it look like the following:

and now it appears like a circle with center at Avg (say) x along x-axis, xy along y-axis.

Where

And radius = [same as equation 5 or max shear]

Graphically it looks like this:

Mohr's Circle is a tool used to visualize relationships between normal and shear stresses, and to
estimate the maximum stresses.

Looking at the figure above, we can straightaway find out the principal stresses and the
maximum shear:

Note: The coordinate rotation angle p is defined +ve when starting on XY axes and proceeding to the XpYp axes. But
on the Mohr's Circle p is defined positive starting on the principal stress line (i.e. the -axis) and proceeding to the
XY stress line (i.e. line Lxy).

The angle p has the opposite sense between the two figures, because on one it starts on the XY
coordinates, and on the other it starts on the principal coordinates.

Note: Right figure has XY axes, tilted to XY and left figure has - axes, where the -axis
represents Principal axis (since = 0 here).

Finding out Principal Directions from Mohr's Circle

Top right: Element showing stress state, and top left shows coordinate rotation angle. The line
joining x-y is the x-y stress line that is typically denoted by Lxy.

Convention: Lxy (stress line) rotating clockwise from the Lp (principal axes) to XY line is +ve.

Objective:

Suppose that the normal and shear stresses, x, y, and xy, are obtained at a point O in the body,
expressed with respect to the coordinates XY. We wish to find the stresses expressed in the new
coordinate set X'Y' (at an angle from XY) as shown below:

Procedure:
Draw Mohr's circle for the given stress state (x, y, and xy; shown below).
 Draw the line Lxy across the circle from (x, xy) to (y, -xy).
Rotate the line Lxy by 2 (twice as much as the angle between XY and X'Y') and in the opposite
direction of .
The stresses in the new coordinates (x', y', and x'y') are then read off the circle.
Variations in Mohrs circle problems: