A Vector Principals plot provides a three-dimensional display of the relative size of the principal quantities (stresses or elastic strains), and the directions along which they occur. Positive principals point outwards and negative ones inwards.

Plots of Vector Principals help depict the directions that experience the greatest amount of normal stress or elastic strain at any point in the body in response to the loading condition. The locus of directions of maximum principal stresses, for example, suggests paths of maximum load transfer throughout a body.

You specify this result as you would any other result. The default scoping is All Bodies, but supported options include geometry, named selection, Path, Surface, Result File Item and Surface Coating.

Once evaluated, the Tabular Data window displays the Minimum and Maximum result values for each principal component at each step.

In addition, you can export the result to a Microsoft Excel (.xls) file. This file provides six fields of data, including the maximum, middle, and minimum principal quantities (stresses or elastic strains) as well as the Mechanical APDL application Euler angle sequence. The Euler angle sequence (the CLOCAL command in MAPDL) produces a coordinate system whose X, Y and Z-axis are the directions of maximum, middle and minimum principal quantities, respectively. Denoted as ThetaXY, ThetaYZ, and ThetaZX, the sequence orients the principal coordinate system relative to the global system.

You can graphically review these results in the Geometry window using the options of the Vector Display group on the Result Context Tab.