Factor of Safety

 If Fu is the critical value after which a machine element (ultimate value or limiting
value) before failure, and F is the load applied to this machine element then :
f.s. = Fu / F also f.s. = Su / 
where Su the critical, ultimate or limiting strength of the material and is the
applied stress.

 A factor of safety > 1 does not guarantee no failure because:

- Precision of strength limit calculation (yield or ultimate)

- Degree of hazard in applying the load (uncertainties)
- Dynamic effects
- Repeatability
- Error in manufacturing and dimensional variation (thermal effect)
- Life dependency
- Other effects that the designer has no control on

 So the term allowable or permissible stress all is used

all = Su / f.s.

 In ductile material the yield strength (Sy ) is normally used to identify the failure
of a` material; all = Sy / f.s.

 In shear stresses or shearing load all = Sy sh / f.s.

 Theories of failure

For ductile materials: Failure means that the stresses exceed the yield strength of
the material (any plastic deformation means failure in mechanical engineering)
For brittle materials: There is no specified yielding point, so the ultimate strength
is used as a failure criterion
- The ultimate strength in compression is much greater than in tension
- The yields strength in tension and compression are similar in ductile materials.

1. Maximum normal stress theory

Failure occurs whenever the largest principal stress equals to the strength
If 1 > 2 > 3   1  Sy t and 3  - S y c
In pure torsion 1 =  = - 3 2 = 0.0
i.e. applying maximum normal stress theory failure will only occur when  = Sy
This theory is only valid in tensile test only and it is not recommended theory.

2. Maximum shear stress theory (Tresca)

This is the easiest and most safe theory which states: “Failure occurs (or yield
occurs) whenever the maximum shear stress becomes equal to the maximum shear
stress in a tension test that leads to yielding failure”.
In simple tensile test max = 1 /2
i.e. failure occurs when max = Sy / 2 i.e. = Sy sh = Sy / 2
in hydrostatic test however this theory does not apply since it predicts no failure
because max. = 0.0
3. Maximum principal strain theory
“Failure occurs when the maximum strain is reached.”
 max = 1 / E –  / E i.e. Sy = 
In simple tension test Sy = 1
In shear test  i.e. Sy sh = 0.77 Sy

4. Maximum strain energy theory

“ Failure occurs when the strain energy per unit volume exceeds that of the simple
tensile test”
U1 = 1 1 /2 U2 = 2 2 /2
σ1  σ1 ν  σ 2  σ 2 ν 
U total   σ2   σ1
2  E E  2  E E 
i.e. Sy2 = 12 – 
In simple tension test Sy = 1
In shear test yorSy sh = 0.62 Sy

5. Maximum distortion energy theory (Von Mises Henckey)

“ if we take the total strain energy and subtract from it the energy necessary to
produce a volume change the part left is which produces angular distortion.

i.e. Utotal = U1 + U2 + U3 =
1
2E
2 2 2
σ1  σ 2  σ 3  2 ν (σ1σ 2  σ 2 σ 3  σ1σ 3 ) 
σ1  σ 2  σ 3
av =
2
1    σ1  σ 2   σ 2  σ 3   σ1  σ 3  
2 2 2
Uv = Utotal - Uav =  
3E  2 
In simple tension 1 = Sy
In triaxial stress 2 Sy2 = (1 – 2)2+(2 – 3)2+ (1 – 3)2
In shear stress only Sy sh = 0.577 Sy
This is the best theory to describe failure in ductile material but does not predict
failure in hydrostatic test ()

2
Sy

Sy
O Sy 1
Maximum Normal Stress Theory
Maximum shear stress theory
Modified distorsion energy Theory

Sy

6. failure of brittle materials

In brittle materials S uc >> S ut
Ssu  Su 2

Su t
Coulomb Mohr theory

Factor of safety for brittle materials

coulomb Mohr Su c O 1
f.s. = Ob / Oa Su t 1
modified Mohr Maximum Normal 2 a
Stress Theory
f.s. = Oc / Oa b
Coulomb-Mohr Theory

maximum Normal Modified Mohr Theory c

f.s. = Od / Oa d

Su c