R: Index of Safety and Economy Page 1 of 1

R: Index of Safety and Economy

R is not only an index of structural safety; it is also a generalized index for economy of a design. Under most practical design situations and from safety
and economy point of view, the physical meaning of R may be interpreted as follows:
For safety:

For safe design:

For unsafe design:

For economy:

Most economical:

Generally economical:

May be acceptable:

Not economical:
So as it can be seen from the above interpretations that when R = 1 the design is the most economical but at the same it has the least margin over the
permissible stress or code specified strength. In other words the maximum limiting case of economy that can be achieved in any design irrespective of the
method or member type is unity. When R = 0.5, the capacity of the chosen section is twice the required capacity and not economical. So it furnishes the
de-signer with a single overall factor which can represent both safety and economy. Furthermore, in the case of  (not safe), the designer can analyze each
of the three components of R and find those that can be modified with little effect on economy. For example, in a design process let us assume that Rbx
becomes greater than one. The designer may think of various options for bringing this factor within acceptable limits, such as, by adding new bracing or
changing the size.

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