The Strain in first principal direction result shows the strain in first principal direction values throughout the part, in the laminate through the thickness of the part shown by the Normalized Thickness value in the legend, and the load factor shown in the legend.
In the case of a Warp analysis, the values represent residual strains, which are the actual strains minus the strains due to pure shrinkage.
Note that the plot corresponds to one particular position through the cross-section, as specified by a normalized thickness value where -1 is the bottom of the element, 0 is the centerline through the element, and +1 is the top of the element.
The normalized thickness value can be viewed or modified on the Animation tab of the Plot Properties dialog.
This result displays the strain distribution within the part as a contour plot. You can also display the strains in a tensor plot using the Strain tensor result.