Mohr-cyclides, a 3D representation of geological tensors: The examples of stress and flow

Mohr-circles are commonly used to represent second-rank tensors in two dimensions. In geology, this mainly applies to stress, flow, strain and deformation. Three-dimensional second rank tensors have been represented by sets of three Mohr-circles, mainly in the application of stress. This paper demonstrates that three-dimensional second rank tensors can in fact be represented in a three-dimensional reference frame by Mohr surfaces, which are members of the cyclide family. Such Mohr-cyclides can be used to represent any second rank tensor and are exemplified with the stress and flow tensors.