Safety factor result

All objects have stress limits that are dependent upon their construction material. Safety Factor is an important result that you can use to evaluate how suitable a design is for its intended application. The safety factor indicates if a design is likely to survive unharmed, bend, or break when subjected to the applied loads.

Note: Safety Factor is the default result for all simulation study types that provide this result. Therefore, when you first solve the simulation, Safety Factor results appear initially. If the safety factor is low, look at other results, such as stress, temperature distribution, and heat flux results to get a better understanding of why.

The Safety Factor result is produced by the following study types:

Nonlinear static stress
Static stress
Thermal stress

Interpreting safety factor values

Design safety factors typically exceed 1.0 by a significant margin:

Safety factor < 1.0: Some sort of failure will occur (either permanent deformation or breakage)
Safety factor = 1.0: The actual stress equals the material strength limit, so the design is on the verge of failure
Safety factor > 1.0: The design has a margin of safety; higher values indicate greater safety margins

Frequently, designers strive for a minimum safety factor between 1.5 and 6, depending on the application. However, lesser or greater safety factors might be targeted in certain cases based on industry requirements, material reliability, and failure consequences.

Understanding safety factor visualizations

Safety factor results use color-coded visualizations to help you evaluate your design. Choose the appropriate visualization based on your analysis goals:

Traffic Light Plot: View the complete safety factor distribution across your entire design. Use this for overall design assessment, design reviews, and communicating results to stakeholders. This is the default visualization.
Below Target visualization: Focus exclusively on areas where safety factor is below your lower threshold. Use this during iterative design when working to eliminate failures and strengthen critical areas.
Above Target visualization: Focus exclusively on over-engineered regions where you might reduce material, weight, or cost. Use this during design optimization to improve efficiency while maintaining adequate safety margins.

For information about threshold values and color zones, see Safety factor thresholds.

Additional resources

For deeper understanding of safety factor concepts:

Factors to consider when choosing a design safety factor - Industry guidance and design considerations
Safety factor calculation - Technical explanation of calculation methods
Safety factor terminology - Definitions of related terms
Additional safety factor information - Important disclaimers and external resources