| THEORY & FORMULAE |
Consider a triaxial stress problem, with six known stress components: normal stresses σx, σy, and σy, and three shear stresses τxy, τxy and τxy. This combination results in 6 stress components: three principal stresses σ1, σ2 & σ3, and three maximum shear stresses τmax1, τmax2 & τmax3. The 3 principal stresses can be found by solving for the 3 roots of the cubic equation below. And then the 3 associated shear stresses can be calculated.
    
where
     σx = normal stress in x direction
     σy = normal stress in y direction
     σz = normal stress in y direction
     τxy = shear stress in xy-plane
     τyz = shear stress in yz-plane
     τxz = shear stress in xz-plane
     σ1 = principal stress
     σ2 = principal stress
     σ3 = principal stress
     τmax1 = maximum shear stress
     τmax2 = maximum shear stress
     τmax3 = maximum shear stress
All stress values are given here in the same units.
The Mohr's circle here is a 3-circle graphical representation of the analytical equations above. From it, the characteristics and extremas of the stresses on the element can be determined.
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