Biomechanics | Principal Stresses

Principal stresses are quite important in biomechanics. In essence, they are the maximum and minimum normal stress values you can get for a specific system (or, really, a specific stress tensor). You find the principal stresses when the shear stresses are zero.

Just always remember: The eigenvalues of the stress tensor will give you the magnitude of the principal stresses; The eigenvectors of the stress tensor will give you the direction of these principal stresses, respectively.

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