Wiktionary
n. (context engineering English) The ratio of the maximum stress or load which something can withstand to the stress or load which it was designed to withstand under normal operation.
WordNet
n. the ratio of the breaking stress of a structure to the estimated maximum stress in ordinary use [syn: factor of safety]
Wikipedia
In a toroidal fusion power reactor, the magnetic fields confining the plasma are formed in a helical shape, winding around the interior of the reactor. The safety factor, labeled q or q(r), is the ratio of the times a particular magnetic field line travels around a toroidal confinement area's "long way" (toroidally) to the "short way" (poloidally).
The term "safety" refers to the resulting stability of the plasma; plasmas that rotate around the torus poloidally about the same number of times as toroidally are inherently less susceptible to certain instabilities. The term is most commonly used when referring to tokamak devices. Although the same considerations apply in stellarators, by convention the inverse value is used, the rotational transform, or i.
Usage examples of "safety factor".
A massive safety factor in the energy budget had been planned for.
It is built up of overlapping sections in such a fashion that it has a safety factor of better than twelve to one.
Then he remembered the noise buffer, the fire-retardant treatment, the safety factor in case anyone fell down—.
Despite the safety factor, they wanted to complete the first full cross section of roof quickly to balance the stress, and Gerrick approved.
Paul told me this morning that Dorothea found a way to quadruple the safety factor against reverse coercive invasion.
We were at fifteen thousand feet now, enough altitude that I'd have the chance to pull out if we edged out of envelope, but not a lot of safety factor.
The minesweeper was therefore a safety factor added to a safety factor.