What are typical factors of safety for Aerospace Engineering

What are typical factors of safety for Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering? Explain why the factors of safety are different for each type of engineering/application.

Solution

The typical factors of safety for Aerospace Engineering are of the order of 6 to 10. They are typically very high because design of costly machines such as aeroplanes and space shuttles requires utmost care and hence a high value of factor of safety is used.

The typical factors of safety for Civil Engineering are of the order of 6 to 12. They are typically very high because design of structures such as buildings, bridges etc. requires attention because human life is at risk and hence a high value of factor of safety is used.

The typical factors of safety for Mechanical Engineering are of the order of 2 to 5. They are relatively lower because design of machine elements such as shafts, gears, etc. requires much less attention hence a lower value of factor of safety is used.