• Oxysis/Oxy
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    2 days ago

    There’s good reasons they engineers over calculate, because they know things break, that people don’t do regular maintenance and that people will over stress the object. So engineers have to account for things like this when designing an object or a device so they don’t fail prematurely.

    • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      Engineer here, I always just use pi and a “safety factor” multiplier. Extra material is expensive, and I want the cheapest part (like a screw) to fail first. We don’t just oversimplify pi because half the time it’ll make your design weaker.

      (If I just got whooshed I apologize)

      • RubberElectrons@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        100%, also how would I indicate to colleagues or successors when I used what value for pi? Clear diving is a thing for me.

        Safety factors are both more explicit and self-documenting up to a certain point.

    • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      I’m familiar

      It’s funny because engineers are known for making simplifications like this, not because the simplification is problematic