SEC. 2.

3] Stress and Strain: Important Relationships 25

Considering the stress state given by the matrix of Eq. (2.3-1) to be

known, the principal stresses sp are related to the given stresses by

ðsx
sp Þlp þ txy mp þ tzx np ¼ 0
txy lp þ ðsy
sp Þmp þ tyz np ¼ 0 ð2:3-18Þ
tzx lp þ tyz mp þ ðsz
sp Þnp ¼ 0

where lp , mp , and np are the directional cosines of the normals to the

surfaces containing the principal stresses. One possible solution to
Eqs. (2.3-18) is lp ¼ mp ¼ np ¼ 0. However, this cannot occur, since

l2p þ m2p þ n2p ¼ 1 ð2:3-19Þ

To avoid the zero solution of the directional cosines of Eqs. (2.3-18), the
determinant of the coefficients of lp , mp , and np in the equation is set to
zero. This makes the solution of the directional cosines indeterminate
from Eqs. (2.3-18). Thus,
 
 ðsx
sp Þ txy tzx 
 
 txy ðs
s Þ t ¼0
 y p yz 
 tzx tyz ðsz
sp Þ 

Expanding the determinant yields

s3p
ðsx þ sy þ sz Þs2p þ ðsx sy þ sy sz þ sz sx
t2xy
t2yz
t2zx Þsp

ðsx sy sz þ 2txy tyz tzx
sx t2yz
sy t2zx
sz t2xy Þ ¼ 0 ð2:3-20Þ

where Eq. (2.3-20) is a cubic equation yielding the three principal

stresses s1 , s2 , and s3 .
To determine the directional cosines for a specific principal stress,
the stress is substituted into Eqs. (2.3-18). The three resulting equa-
tions in the unknowns lp , mp , and np will not be independent since
they were used to obtain the principal stress. Thus, only two of Eqs.
(2.3-18) can be used. However, the second-order Eq. (2.3-19) can be
used as the third equation for the three directional cosines. Instead of
solving one second-order and two linear equations simultaneously, a
simplified method is demonstrated in the following example.y

y
Mathematical software packages can be used quite easily to extract the eigenvalues
(sp ) and the corresponding eigenvectors (lp , mp , and np ) of a stress matrix. The reader is
urged to explore software such as Mathcad, Matlab, Maple, and Mathematica, etc.