Kumoh National Institute of Technology

Mechanical Engineering
Capstone Design Laboratory

EIGENVALUE & EIGENVECTORS

mez
Mario Go
mariogomezt@outlook.com

Abstract
In this document will describe how to obtain main stresses and main directions in a point over plane to after apply
Failures Theories for both ductile and fragile materials by computing eigenvalues and eigenvectors.
Eigenvalues will represent main stresses and eigenvector will represent main directions.
INTRODUCTION
To start is important to consider a vanishingly small rectangular parallelepiped and then we should consider the surface
tractions on three rectangular boundary surface of the body,
this is showed in the Figure 1. The cartesian components
of the surface tractions are showed in the Figure 2, and this
components are the nine force intensities on three orthogonal
faces of the infinitesimal rectangular parallepiped.

11
21
31

12
22
32

13
23
33

The terms in the main diagonal are called normal stresses

and we will denoted the normal stress with , meanwhile the
the off-diagonal terms are the shear stresses.

11
21
31

12
22
32

13
23
33

The array above is called stress tensor.

Stress tensor shall be symmetric due to the shear
stresses with reversed indices with respect to each other are
Figure 1: Vanishingly small rectangular parallelepiped with equal, it means the next consideration kj = jk and this
the surface tractions on three rectangular boundary surface consideration is important to the equilibrium of the body.
of the body.
EIGENVECTOR
The eigenvector of a square matrix are the non-zero vectors that, after being multiplied by the matrix, remain proportional to the original vector.
If v is a vector that is not zero, then it is an eigenvector
of a square matrix A if Av is a scalar multiple of v.

Av = v

(1)

then v is an eigenvector of the linear transformation A

and the scale factor is the eigenvalue corresponding to the
eigenvector.

Figure 2: Nine force intensities on three orthogonal faces of

Eigenvectors can be found by finding non-zero solutions
an infinitesimal rectangular parallelepiped with faces parallel
of the eigenvalue equation, that becomes a system of linear
to the coordinate planes of x1 , x2 , x3 .
equations with know coefficients, then is necessary know the
exact value of an eigenvalue.
The nine quantities are stresses and now we can represent
All the eigenvectors of a matrix are perpendicular, they
the stresses as an array as is shown.
are orthogonal.
1

Kumoh National Institute of Technology

Mechanical Engineering
Capstone Design Laboratory

Eigenvector for matrices 2x2

For any eigenvalue the eigenvectors that correspond

to that is necessary to denote a new parameter, this is the
eigenspace (E ), this one is for a . So now we have the next
equation,

E=3

2
= Span 1
1

We should notice that E=3 form one eigenspace and

E
form one eigenspace too, but the eigenvector when
=3
Elambda = N (In A)
(2)
= 3 is perpendicular to the eigenspace when = 3.
The null space of this matrix is an actual numerical repEIGENVALUE
resentation of (A In ), but also the null space of the matrix
above is the set of all of the vectors that satisfy this matrix
For each eigenvector, the corresponding eigenvalue is the
or all of the eigenvectors that correspond to the respective
factor by which the eigenvector changes when multiplied by
eigenvalue.
the matrix.
The null space of a matrix is equal to the null space of the
Eigenvalue for matrices 2x2
reduced row echelon form of a matrix
We should considered always subtract from the diagonal
Eigenvector for matrices 3x3
of A,
We are going to consider the next matrix,
The eigenvalues of a matrix A can be determined by finding the roots of the characteristic polynomial.

1 2
2
2 1
A= 2
2
1
2
Ax = x
(3)
For this matrix the eigenvalues are, = 3, = 3 and
= 3, then we shall consider the next theorem,

Now, if (A I)x = 0 has a nonzero solution.

In the equation above the number is an eigenvalue of A

The eigenvectors corresponding to one and the same
eigenvalue of A, together with 0, form a vector space, called if and only if A I is singular,
the eigenspace of A corresponding to that
So, for the matrix above, we have two eigenspaces.

det(A I) = 0

(4)

Eigenspace for = 3
Notice that det(A I) = 0 involves only , not x.

1
2

1
2

v1
E=3 = v2 = a 1 + b 0 a, b R
v3
0
1

1
2

1
2

For each solve (A I) = 0 or Ax = x to find an

eigenvector x.
Eigenvalue for matrices 3x3

To calculate the eigenvalue for matrices 3x3, we shall consider,

E=3 = Span 1 0
0
1
Eigenspace for = 3

is an eigenvalue of A
Av = v
0 = In v Av 0 = (In A)v
(In A)v = 0
det(In A)v = 0

E=3

v1
2
= v2 = t 1
v3
1

References
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/linear-algebra/alternate_bases/eigen_everything/v/
linear-algebra-finding-eigenvectors-and-eigenspaces-example
http://nir-quimiometria.blogspot.kr/2011/06/eigenvectors-y-eigenvalues.html
http://math.mit.edu/gs/linearalgebra/ila0601.pdf