Qassim University

College of Engineering

Civil Engineering Department

CE 353/480
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

Dr. Sherif M. ElKholy

Stress In Soil Masses

Normal and Shear Stresses on a Plane

y

If

Then Plane EF is called Principal Plane

Principal Stresses and Principal Planes

Then:

Then The Principal Stresses are:

Mohrs Circle
It is a graphical method to determine the normal and shear
stresses acting on any plane (e.g. Plane EF shown before).

It has the following sign convention:

Compressive Normal Stress is taken as:

Tension Normal Stress is taken as:

+ ve

ve

Counter Clockwise Shear Stress is taken as: +

Clockwise Shear is taken as:

ve

ve

Mohrs Circle
On Plane AD:
Normal Stress = + x
Shear Stress = + xy

On Plane AB:
Normal Stress = + y
Shear Stress = - xy
The Radius of
Mohrs Circle is = :

Mohrs Circle
The Stresses on Plane EF are
determined by:
Plot and angle = 2 counter
clockwise from the line RM.
The coordinates of the
resulted point Q represents
the Normal and Shear
Stresses on Plane EF, n n

Mohrs Circle
If we assume that Planes AB
and AD are the Major and
Minor Principal Stresses,
Then xy = 0 and
Then the Stresses n and n
will be as follows:

Mohrs Circle
Example

Example

Rewriting the equation results in:

z

Flexible Strip Footing

Example

Derived from Boussinesqs Solution for the Case of Stress Increase

due to Point Load

Use: dq = q dx dy and
r2 = x2 + y2
Leads to:

Special Case: Stresses Below the Center of a Rectangular Area

Example:

z
z

Influence Chart for Vertical Pressure

General Procedure for Solution Using Newmark Chart

z
z
z
z
z
z