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MohrCirclesandFiniteStrain

MohrCirclesandFiniteStrain
StevenDutch,NaturalandAppliedSciences,UniversityofWisconsinGreenBay
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ForgeneralcommentsonMohrCirclesandellipses,seeMohrCirclesandConicSections
Finitestrainisstrainthatismorethanafewpercent.Itmeanswehavetoregarddeformedcirclesastrue
ellipses,andcannotmakeuseofcertainmathematicalapproximationsthatareusefulforverysmall
(usuallyelastic)strains.

Atleft,wehaveanoriginallycircularobject(areductionspot,say)deformedintoanellipse.AtrightistheMohr
Circlecorrespondingtotheellipse.TheusualrulesformeasuringanglesonMohrCirclesapply,sowecansee
that:
Forfinitestrain,realworldradiiaremappedinMohrspaceastheirinversesquares,measuredalongthe
horizontalaxis.
MohrCircleanglesaretwicetherealworldvalue
AnglesinMohrspacearemeasuredinthesamesenseasinrealworldspace.

Shearisabitmorecomplicatedwhendealingwithfinitestrain.Initsoriginalstate(left)theradiusofacircleis
alwaysperpendiculartothetangent.Ifthecircleisstrained(right),theradiusisnolongerperpendiculartothe
tangent.ThechangeinangleCisameasureofshear.Afteracertainamountoftrigmanipulation,wecanshow
that:

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1/19/2016

MohrCirclesandFiniteStrain

TanC=[r2(1/b21/a2)/2]Sin2A
whereristheradiusoftheellipse.

Itturnsoutthat[(1/b21/a2)/2]Sin2Aissimplythe
verticalcoordinatehatleft.
So:h=TanC/r2=(1/r2)TanC.
Writingitthiswayallowsustoseethatthegeometrical
relationshipatleftmusthold.

MohrCircleconstructionsforfinitestrainaren'tusedverymuchtocalculatedimensionsorshearsinceit's
usuallyjustaseasy,andmoreclear,toworkdirectlyfromtheellipse.Wheretheyaremostfrequentlyused
issituationswheredeformationinseveraldirectionsisknown,butnottheprincipalaxesofthestrain
ellipse.ThenMohrCirclesareaneffectivewayoffindingmaximumandminimumdeformationandtheir
directions.
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Created29November2000,LastUpdate1December2000
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