The stress tensor allows one to determine stress in any plane section drawn through

this point, if we know components in three orthogonal planes. Only six of the
components of the tensor are independent. From the condition of equilibrium of the
element it follows that in orthogonal planes the shear stresses normal to the
intersection of planes are equal in magnitude, τxy = τyx; τyz = τzy; τzx = τxz.

For every point of a deformed body it is always possible to find such three
orthogonal planes in which the only normal stresses and shear stresses acting are
equal to zero. These normal stresses are called principal stresses. The principal
stresses have indexes such that σ1 ≥ σ2 ≥ σ3. The principal stresses completely
determine the stress condition at any point in a structure. If the initial planes
are not the principal planes, then the principal stresses can be found as the roots
of the following equation:

�
3
−
�
1
�
2
+
�
2
�
−
�
3
=
0
,
where

�
1
=
�
�
+
�
�
+
�
�
;
�
2
=
�
�
�
�
+
�
�
�
�
+
�
�
�
�
−
�
xy
2
−
�
yz
2
−
�
zx
2
;
�
3
=
�
�
�
�
�
�
−
�
�
�
yz
2
−
�
�
�
zx
2
−
�
�
�
xy
2
+
2
�
xy
�
yz
�
zx
.
If one of the planes is a principal plane, for example a plane perpendicular to the
x-axis, and thus one of the principal stresses is known, then the other two
principal stresses can be found with the formula

�
�
=
1
2
�
�
+
�
�
±
1
2
�
�
−
�
�
2
+
4
�
yz
2
.
The principal stresses determined with this formula do not depend on the known
principal stress. These stresses are in the planes parallel to the x-axis. The
position of those principal planes can be found with the formula

tan
2
�
1
,
2
=
2
�
yz
�
�
−
�
�
.
The angle α1 is the angle between the z-axis and the normal to the principal plane
with the larger of these two principal stresses; the angle α2 is the angle between
the z-axis and the normal to the principal plane with the lesser principal stress.
The relation between these angles is |α1 − α2| = 90°.The angle α should also
satisfy the equation

cos
2
�
1
=
�
�
−
�
�
�
�
−
�
�
2
+
4
�
yz
2
.
The angle counts from the z-axis in counterclockwise direction.