Tensor Spines - A Hyperstreamlines Variant Suitable for Indefinite Symmetric Second-Order Tensors

Modern engineering uses optimization to design long-living and robust components. One part of this process is to find the optimal stress-aware design under given geometric constraints and loading conditions. Tensor visualization provides techniques to show and evaluate the stress distribution based on finite element method simulations. One such technique are hyperstreamlines. They allow us to explore the stress along a line following one principal stress direction while showing the other principal stress directions and their values. In this paper, we show shortcomings of this approach from an engineer’s point of view and propose a variant called tensor spines. It provides an improved perception of the relation between the principal stresses helping engineers to optimize their designs further.