Normal stress on

plane

Shear
stress
on plane

Po
le

Pl
an
e

2
1

1 - 3

= DEVIATORIC STRESS

1 + 3

1 + 3
2

= MEAN STRESS

Hydrostatic (or mean)

stress
Has NO shear stress component
All principal stresses are equal (1= 2= 3)
Changes the volume (or density) of the body
under stress
As depth increases, the hydrostatic stress on
rocks increases

1 + 3

-
1

3/

1/ + 3/
2

Mean stress increases = CENTER of the

Mohr Circle shifts towards right

1/ N

 The size (or the diameter) of the Mohr circle depends

on the difference between 1 and 3
This difference (1 - 3) is called DIFFERENTIAL
stress
This difference controls how much DISTORTION is
produced on a body under stress
The radius of the Mohr circle is known as
DEVIATORIC stress

1 - 3
2

Increased mean stress

SHAPE of the body

remains the same
SIZE changes

Increased
DEVIATORIC stress

SHAPE of the body

changes
SIZE remains the
same

3 /

1 /

-
1

3/

1 + 3

1/

Deviatoric stress increases = RADIUS of the Mohr

Circle increases

UNIAXIAL stress = The magnitude of ONE principal

stress is not zero (can be either positive or
negative).
The other two have zero magnitude
Uniaxial
tensile
2 = 3 = 0
S

Uniaxial
compressive

N
1 0
(nonzero
value)
- N

3 0
(nonzero
value)

1 = 2 = 0 N
S

AXIAL stress
NONE of the three principal stresses have a zero
magnitude (all have a nonzero value)
Two out of three principal stresses have equal
magnitude
So axial stress states can be:
1 >2 = 3 0, or
1 =2 > 3 0, for both compression and
tension

Axial tensile

- N 2=3

Axial compressive

1 2=3

1 N

- N

1=2

1=2 N

The MOST common stress field is

TRIAXIAL
1 >2 > 3 0 (either compressional or
tensile)

Rock failure: experimental

results
Experiments are conducted under
different differential stress and mean
stress conditions
Mohr circles are constructed for each
stress state
Rocks are stressed until they break
(brittle failure) under each stress state

The normal and shear stress values of brittle

failure for the rock is recorded

After a series of tests, the points of failures are

joined together to define a FAILURE ENVELOPE

 Rocks are REALLY weak

under tensile stress
Mode I fractures (i.e. joints)
develop when 3 = the tensile
strength of the rock (T0)

1
Mode I
fracture

S
3

3
Fracture opens

- N

3 =T0

1 = 2 = 0

Back to the failure envelope

Under compressive stress, the envelope
is LINEAR
Equation of a line in x y coordinate
system can be expressed as:

y = mx + c
y
m = SLOPE of the line = tan

c = intercept on y-axis when x is 0

x

Equation of the Coulomb Failure envelope

is:

c = (tan )N +C
C = Cohesive strength
c = Critical shear stress required for
failure (faulting)
S

Zooming in the failure envelope

= angle between 1 and POLE of the fracture plane

= Angle of internal friction = 2 - 90

tan = coefficient of internal friction
S
90
2
180-2

180-2++ 90 = 180