Factor of safety
Factor of safety (FoS), also known as Safety Factor, is a multiplier applied to the calculated maximum load (force, torque, bending moment or a combination) to which a component will be subjected. Safety factors are needed to account for imperfections in materials, flaws in assembly, material degradation, and uncertainty in load estimates. An alternative way to use the safety factor is to derate the strength of the material to get a "design" strength.
Sdesign = Syield / FoS
Sdesign = Sproof / FoS
Typically, for components whose failure could result in substantial financial loss, or serious injury or death, a safety factor of at least four (4) is used. Non-critical components generally have a safety factor of two (2). An interesting exception is in the field of Aerospace engineering, where Safety factors are kept low (about 1.15 - 1.25) to keep structural weight down.
A Factor of safety of 1 implies no safety at all. Hence some engineers prefer to use a related term, Margin of Safety (MoS) to describe the design parameters. The relation between MoS and FoS is MoS = FoS - 1.
Example
In construction engineering the tensional stress σ is defined as σ = F / A where F is the force acting on the element and A is the cross sectional area. From laboratory testing it is known what the actual failure tensile stress σmax of materials is. To find the minimum safe cross section of an element, the force acting on the element is multiplied with the safety factor γ, (its magnitude depending on building codes and regulations). The minimum cross section is then found using Amin = F · γ / σmax
See also
