Important:
Autodesk, Inc. cannot dictate what safety factor you should achieve in your design work. It is the customer's responsibility to research safety factor guidelines and to ensure compliance with applicable codes, design standards, and acceptable practices. However, the factors influencing safety factor decisions are discussed on this page.
Finite element analysis (FEA) is a theoretical mathematical method of determining stresses in complex geometry. Assumptions and approximations are made as a part of this process (material characteristics, loads, and constraints). Also, the mesh is a discrete approximation of the actual parts. When possible, you should perform testing to verify the safety and integrity of your designs. Of course, such testing, in particular destructive testing, is not always feasible or practical (for example, when designing bridges or buildings). For structures or large and expensive castings or forgings, you can employ strain gauge testing to verify the resultant stresses. In addition, you can verify material properties from samples of the material used to create the parts.
Minimum allowable safety factors are specified by law, building or design codes, company engineering standards, empirical experience, or by contract. For example NASA® (aerospace industry) and the pressure vessel and crane industries have strict guidelines for design safety factors. However, for many industries and governing agencies, established design and safety factor standards either do not exist or vary widely. There are no dedicated comprehensive or universal design safety factor standards.
For additional information, some typical factors of safety, and general recommendations, you may find it helpful to consult the following websites. However, remember that Autodesk, Inc. is not affiliated with the organizations hosting these websites. We assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the information these websites contain nor how you interpret and use the information:
You may want to search the web to find other resources or to find similar resources in other languages.