Factor of Safety

The factor of safety is often specified in a design code or standard, such as: American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) steel buildings & bridges American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) pressure vessels, boilers, shafts. American Concrete Institute (ACI) National Forest Products Association (NFPA) wood structures. Aluminum Association (AA) aluminum buildings & bridges. Codes often specify a minimum factor of safety Designers responsibility to determine if a code or standard applies. Codes are often specified by law. (BOCA, UBC, etc.) Factors which affect the factor of safety: Material strength basis: brittle Materials use ultimate strength ductile Materials use yield strength Manner or loading: Static applied slowly; remains applied or is infrequently removed. Repeated fatigue failure may occur at stresses lower than static load failure. Impact high initial stresses develop. Possible misuse designer must consider any reasonable foreseeable use & misuse of product. Complexity of stress analysis the actual stress in a part isnt always known. Environment temperature, weather, radiation, chemical, etc. More factors: Hazard of failure what happens if the parts fail? What are the consequences? Costs compromises sometimes have to be made. Never compromise for safety when danger to life and property exist. Weight what market segment is this an issue? Market segment how does factor of safety, N, different in these market segments? Truck/bus industry Off-highway industry Aerospace industry

We will use the following factors of safety: Table 3-2, Pg. 89 Design Factor, N Ductile Materials Sy basis Su basis 2 ----8 --12

Manner of Loading Static Repeated Impact Review of Chapter 3:

Brittle Materials Su basis 6 10 15

(Section 3-3 Design Normal Stress, d ): When designing Mechanical components the design stress (also called allowable or working stress) must be determined so the member can be adequately sized. The design stress is based on factor of safety, N. Factor of safety is either stated in problem or refer to tables (i.e. 3-2) or use engineering judgment based on above! Equations for design stress, d :

d = Sy/N
Or

(based on yield strength)

(3.2)

d = Su/N

(based on ultimate strength)

(3.3)

Sy & Su are Material properties determined from previous discussion.

N is the factor of safety. - In most s of m problems encountered, N will either be stated in the problem or refer to tables (i.e. table 3-2) or use engineering judgment based on above! However, in the professional world, if designing a component covered by a code, it is the Designers responsibility to use appropriate code (i.e. pressure vessels, steel structures). If not covered by code, the Designer must use good engineering judgment to determine appropriate N.

(Section 3-3 Design Shear Stress, d): If failure mode is shear (i.e. member loaded in shear such as rivet shown) the designer must design to a design shear stress given by: P

d = Sys/N

(based on yield strength in shear)

(3-6)

Methodology for determining N analogous to normal stress (i.e. previous discussion). See table 3-4 for general guidelines for determining N based on shear stress. Note, the shear material properties can be determined from tensile properties using the following estimates:

Sys (yield strength in shear) = 0.5 Sy (Yeild , tension) Sus (ultimate strength in shear) = Su (Ultimate , tension)
From Table 3.5: = .65 for aluminum, = .82 for steel = .90 for iron/copper = 1.30 for gray cast iron Read section 3-8 Design Bearing Stress