7. Definition
The chapter introduces the concepts of principal stress components and principal planes, which are crucial for understanding stress distribution within materials. It discusses methods for identifying principal planes using calculus and the method of Lagrange multipliers. Additionally, it covers properties of principal planes, including the number of planes and their relationships, and concludes with the representation of stress tensors in their eigenvalue form.
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Sections
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What we have learnt
- Principal planes are where the normal component of traction is maximized or minimized.
- The eigenvalues of the stress tensor represent the principal stress components, while the corresponding eigenvectors indicate the direction of the principal planes.
- Stress matrices are diagonal in the coordinate system defined by their eigenvectors, indicating the absence of shear components on those planes.
Key Concepts
- -- Principal Planes
- Planes within a material where the normal component of traction is either maximized or minimized, identified as crucial for understanding material failure.
- -- Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors
- Mathematical entities used to describe the principal stress components and their orientations in a stress tensor.
- -- Method of Lagrange Multipliers
- A mathematical strategy used to find the local maxima and minima of a function subject to equality constraints.
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