What is Failure: Definition and 248 Discussions

Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One person might consider a failure what another person considers a success, particularly in cases of direct competition or a zero-sum game. Similarly, the degree of success or failure in a situation may be differently viewed by distinct observers or participants, such that a situation that one considers to be a failure, another might consider to be a success, a qualified success or a neutral situation.
It may also be difficult or impossible to ascertain whether a situation meets criteria for failure or success due to ambiguous or ill-defined definition of those criteria. Finding useful and effective criteria, or heuristics, to judge the success or failure of a situation may itself be a significant task.

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  1. mugaliens

    LG Monitor Failure: Any Solutions?

    I have an LG L246WP-BN monitor, Model Number L246WPQ. It's the second monitor in my system, my laptop monitor being primary. It's connected with a standard 15-pin connector. I tested two other monitors capable of the same or better resolution, so the laptop is not the issue. About two...
  2. P

    Combustion connecting rod failure (in cars)

    Hi all, I have this question from my friends and hope get the answer. Using your car with the oil is not sufficient, the connecting rod is the first to fail. Normally it burns both bearings or the smaller one (connecting to piston) burns first? I think there's a dilemma here: the bigger one...
  3. J

    Calculating How many load repititions can be applied before failure

    Homework Statement A metal rod having a diameter of 10 mm is subjected to a repeated tensile load. The material of the rod has a tensile strength of 290 MPa. How many load repetitions can be applied to this rod before it fails if the magnitude of the load is (a) 5 kN, and (b) 11 kN...
  4. H

    Calculate Force for Beam Shear Failure

    I started a new job two weeks ago and I've been out of school for twenty years and have not used strength of materials knowlegde since. I had a part fail in the lab and I would like to calculate the force that would have been necessary to cause the shear failure. I have simplified the problem...
  5. D

    Mechanical Failure of a Truncated Cone

    What data do you need to calculate the failure point of a truncated cone when it is under uniaxial stress acting downward on the cone? The cone will be under stresses of roughly 30 tonnes and probably constructed of plastic. Thanks,
  6. D

    Mechanical Failure of a Truncated Cone

    What data do you need to calculate the failure point of a truncated cone when it is under uniaxial stress acting downward on the cone? The cone will be under stresses of roughly 30 tonnes and probably constructed of plastic. Thanks,
  7. D

    Plastic Failure Mechanisms When X Bar has Area A or 2A

    in the following question i am asked to find all the possible mechanisms, in the given state, and then when the "X" bar has an area of A and not 2A the answers are: when area of X=2A i) plastic hinge at D ii) yielding of Y and X bars iii) plastic hinge at C, yielding of "Y" bar...
  8. B

    How to compute flexure and failure loads of acrylic sheets

    I am designing a 25-meter long by ~10-meter wide by 2~4 meter deep swimming pool from transparent acrylic or polycarbonate sheets, and need to determine what thickness the plastic sheets must be to not break... as well as how much the center of each sheet will deflect under the load. I am not...
  9. N

    Probability of Filling 100 Orders w/ Defective Components

    Homework Statement A manufacturer has 100 customers and needs to make one component per customer. However 2% of the components manufactured come out defective. The components can be assumed to be independent. If the manufacturer stocks 100 components, what is the probability that the 100...
  10. Char. Limit

    Did I Fail? My College Rejection Story.

    I got rejected by the college of my choice. I feel terrible now. End.
  11. R

    Why Does Failure Stress Depend on Material?

    why failure stress depend upon material instead of size and shape?
  12. U

    How to switch power source to a backup power source in case of a failure?

    Homework Statement So this is for a fourth year engineering project, I'm on the power subsystem of a lunar penetrator. I'm not in electrical engineering, I'm in aero (mech), so forgive me for my lack of specialized knowledge. I want a system in place where if the main power source fails (RTG)...
  13. B

    Fatigue Failure on Turbine Blade(large subsonic aircraft)

    I am doing a project on the subject above, and i am selecting one type of material that is currently popular used in gas turbine, but i found it difficult to select the material as there are too many nickel-based alloy that can be use for this application. Can anyone direct me with a suggestion...
  14. N

    Neon sign, transformer failure

    Hi all- Can anyone offer any insight into a problem I've noticed for years but don't know how to solve? I'm a self taught neon tube bender. I am not an electrician or electrical engineer. Through the years, I've noticed neon tube, fluorescent lamp, transformer and ballast failure more often...
  15. N

    Why do you think humans in general are more prone to failure than success?

    Discuss. I suppose one person's failure could be another person's success. But In this context, I defined failure as not reaching all of your goals and success as reaching all of your goals. Even seemingly successful people have seen more failures than success.Einstein was said to publish...
  16. J

    Finding failure of a beam system

    See attached for a picture. I want to calculate the load that will produce a failure at the point in the picture. If I know all the required dimensions and material properties, how do I go about calculating the load that will produce failure? Thanks! Jim
  17. A

    Possible Causes of Roller Bearing Overheating and Failure in Vertical Pumps

    Dear all, I'd like to ask what are the causes for a roller bearing in a vertical pump to overheat and burn as we have got this incident in our plant and am trying to find out what can cause such a thing. Pump details: 1. Sulzer Waste Water Pump (Model No.: VCM 4X10A 2. Pump has been...
  18. R

    Need help analyzing the failure of a rotating disk

    Homework Statement hi, i'm working on a project for a materials class. we chose to analyze a spacer in a jet engine that catastrophically failed. The spacer failed initially due to rubbing between it and a vane case on the outer most radius of the spacer. We're not analyzing the vane case...
  19. P

    Failure of Sparcraft Wings on my Aerobatic Aircraft

    Well Last week I was on a website called the biplane forum. I posted a topic about a very serious real world problem. I own a pitts S1S aircraft. This aircraft is an experimental aircraft. Not certified. Pitts are very popular airplanes in the aerobatic world. There are many different models...
  20. T

    Conditional Probability, Failure of Concrete Beam

    Homework Statement A concrete beam my fail by shear or flexure. The failure probability in shear is equal to the failure probability in flexure, and the probability of failure in shear when the beam is loaded beyond is flexure capacity (ie, it has already failed in flexure) is 80%. Find the...
  21. K

    Predicting failure after a certain time

    Hello, Iam trying to find a material which will fail after a week or so under roughly 2.5 giga pascals. The load will vary slightly but not overly significantly considering the magnitute of pressure. It stays between about 1 to 3 degrees celcius and stays in a non-oxidising environment. The...
  22. S

    Need help manufacturing something with threads. THREAD FAILURE problem.

    hello everyone, this is my first post. Right now I am trying to figure out which equations to use to solve the following. I will have a block that will a threaded rod through it. This block will be next to another larger block. In between these blocks are going to be metal samples. Now...
  23. S

    Casual factors of corrosion failure?

    What are the casual factors of corrosion failure?
  24. S

    Creep failure and related question

    I don't know if the answers by me are correct or not to these questions. Can someone please check them and give me some suggesstions. thanks QUESTION 1 Explain the distinctive stages of a creep failure. (5 marks) ANSWER Creep is the slow deformation of a material when it is under...
  25. G

    Calculating Pisa Point of Failure

    This is not for a homework assignment, but rather a discussion I have to lead in an intro to physics class (not for credit). I've chosen to discuss the BASIC physics at play in the leaning tower of Pisa (torque, moment, etc.) Homework Statement With the given variables, how can I...
  26. G

    Calculus final in 24 hours - failure imminent - need some advice

    Hi everyone, I guess I'm coming to that point of realization that I'm not going to pass my calc course. I don't really know why I'm writing this, maybe in the hope that someone on this forum may have been in a similar spot and could advise me about their experience. I've never really failed...
  27. S

    What solutions can be used to analyze key failure in a lathe gearbox?

    i hav to find out why the key in output pulley fails due to sudden forward and reversing(in gearbox of lathe)i did some theoretical calculations in crushing & shear stress.please tel some solution regarding analysis of the key
  28. Ivan Seeking

    News On Not Learning The Lessons Of Long-Term Capital's Failure

    Wow. Talk about a bull's-eye! http://www.financialpolicy.org/dsclessons.htm
  29. T

    Get Over Failure: Strategies & Math Tips

    Have you ever blanked on a test and got a below average grade on said test? How did you get over it? What did you tell yourself? Also, how do you learn Math? Do you learn on your own and get help only when you absolutely need it? At what point do you accept that you need help? I know it's a lot...
  30. K

    Shear failure in threaded fasteners

    Hi How can i derive an equation to prove that a bolt won't fail due to shear stress if the length of thread engagement of the bolt with nut is equal to the diameter of the bolt. I got a formula, but i don't know whether it is useful in this case. A_s,e = pi*n*L_e*K_nmax*[1/2n +...
  31. S

    Medical Need help, mind and body failure due to SALVIA

    first off... Awesome forum! i have been looking for a forum like this for... too long ok... here is a list of the long term effects I am having... short of breath it seems that without concentrating on breathing my rate is incredibly slow zoning out constantly i feel as if I am looking...
  32. J

    Liquidity Traps and The Failure of Keynes

    The four schools of economics I know of are: Keynsians economics - which promotes stimulating the economy though government expenditure. Reaganomics - which promotes stimulating the economy though tax cuts Monetarism – which promotes stimulating the economy though the federal reserve system...
  33. K

    Bearing Failure in Motor-Driven Shaft with 40 kW Load

    I have a problem of bearing failure. A motor drives a shaft thro a flat belt. This shaft is connected to a load of around 40 kw. The shaft has 1309 self aligning ball bearing as floating bearing at the back end of shaft. On the load side there is a bearing 2209 NUP. The bearing inners are locked...
  34. B

    Catastrophic failure SF6 Circuit Breaker

    We have had a catastrophic failure of an SF6 circuit breaker. This breaker was used as a synchronising breaker for a CHP on our 11kV system. Does anyone have or can point me to articles on failures (causes & effects) of SF6 circuit breakers. TIA
  35. T

    Which drive is experiencing SMART failure?

    I recently got the following message during booting; "Smart failure on Primary IDE Channel 3. Back-up your data, Disk drive failure may be imminent" I've dealt with this problem previously, only problem now is I have two HD drives. How do I know which one this concerns?
  36. K

    Solving Pipe Line Failure in HP Compressor Setup

    As a part of my Project I'm experiencing a serious problem, "Blow out of Pipes in Compressor". In that we are trying control the blow out. Let me tell you the real scenario. The outlet of the HP Compressor is connected to a pipeline which in turn is connected to the reservoir. HP Outlet -...
  37. E

    Failure analysis of a 2 OD solid 6063 aluminum round bar

    Failure analysis of a 2" OD solid 6063 aluminum round bar I have a 6 foot piece of 2" OD solid 6063 aluminum bar that is supported at both ends. Hanging from the center is a 5000 pound weight. What techniques and equations would be used to determine if the aluminum bar will successfully bear...
  38. J

    Highest frequency before mechanical failure

    I am wondering what property of a material would be of interest (or better yet if you knew some formulas that describe this property) if I want to know what frequencies different materials could handle. I am thinking along the lines of "the fat lady singing" and reaching that high note that...
  39. Ivan Seeking

    News Failure of free-market economics

    With the failures of Freddie, Fannie, and now AIG, we have seen an earth-shaking failure of free-market economics. While the market would eventually correct itself, and though that should be allowed to happen, it had to be checked for fear of a complete US ecomomic collapse, which, according to...
  40. M

    Power Supply Failure? PC Won't Power On

    Hello, My PC stopped working a little while ago, and I think the power supply went out, but I'm not sure. It will not power on at all, but the light on my motherboard is still lighting up. Is this most likely a problem wih the power supply?
  41. P

    The Fringe Benefits of Failure

    I received this in an email and thought it a rather powerful, well-delivered speech. So, I thought I'd share :smile: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/06.05/99-rowlingspeech.html
  42. T

    Overhead transmission line protection failure

    Hello everyone , I am still new to the protection field so i would appreciate if you can help me with analysis of the following, A 13.8 Kv OHTL was cut and fell on ground , the cable was still live although being protected by Earth fault relays and Over current relays(Instantaneous and...
  43. A

    Failure of a system of components logically arranged in series and parallel

    The performance of the valves in (V1 OR V2 OR V3) AND V4 AND V5 has been assessed in more detail under conditions closer to those experienced in-service and the distribution functions of the random time to failure have been quantified. The useful life period, prior to wear-out, occurs from...
  44. A

    Failure of a system of components logically arranged in series and parallel

    [SOLVED] failure of a system of components logically arranged in series and parallel The performance of the valves in (V1 OR V2 OR V3) AND V4 AND V5 has been assessed in more detail under conditions closer to those experienced in-service and the distribution functions of the random time to...
  45. A

    How Do You Calculate the Probability of Valve Failure Within 3 Years?

    [SOLVED] Failure probability [b]1. Homework Statement [/b The performance of the valves in Q5 has been assessed in more detail under conditions closer to those experienced in-service and the distribution functions of the random time to failure have been quantified. The useful life period...
  46. A

    Calculating Probability of Valve Failure in Q5: Exponential Distribution Model

    [SOLVED] probability of failure The performance of the valves in Q5 has been assessed in more detail under conditions closer to those experienced in-service and the distribution functions of the random time to failure have been quantified. The useful life period, prior to wear-out, occurs...
  47. A

    Calculating Probability of Subsea Compressor System Failure

    [SOLVED] Bolean Algebra Question The failure of a subsea compressor system is described by the following Boolean Algebra statement: F = A UBU(CUD) If P[A] = 0.01; P[B] = 0.0034; P[C] = 0.00067; P[D] = 0.002, calculate the probability P[F] given independence between A,B,C,D...
  48. wolram

    What caused the series of explosions during a power failure?

    My lights stated to flash on and off at the same time i noted a series of bangs coming from outside, as i looked through the window i saw small explosions with puffs of smoke and debris traveling along the overhead power cable, it seems a tree branch had severed the cable, but why so many...
  49. R

    Between love and failure of Mathematics.

    Hello there I don't know what to say but I love mathematics and at the same time I don't excel at it with a history full of suffering and failurein mathematics. I do prepare for mathematics but I still find problem in understanding or precisely I slowly understand while I know few who excel...
  50. Ivan Seeking

    Was the success of JAWS due to its initial failure?

    I was listening to Steven Spielberg talk about the making of the movie JAWS. When the mechanical shark was first tested, it operated brilliantly for the first few seconds, but then it failed and sank to the bottom of the ocean. This put the shark out of commission for several weeks. At this...
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