Saint-Venant’s principle states that the effect of [[Force|loading]] specifics becomes less important the further you get from the load. In other words, the method of loading is most important close to the point of loading and becomes less important and more distributed and uniform the further the load travels from the loading point. Saint-Venant’s principle is the reason why average [[Stress|stress]] is so often used as a metric for determining structural integrity. ![[stvenants.png]] The distribution of stress can change drastically in objects with abrupt geometry changes. These distribution changes will be most drastic around the geometry change in question, and become less severe further away from these features. These abrupt stress distribution changes are referred to as stress concentrations, and describe the typically heightened stress at the locations of features. More abrupt cross-sectional [[Area|area]] changes will result in greater stress concentrations. As such, fillets and round corners mitigate the effects and magnitude of stress concentrations. The stress concentration factor, $K$, is a constant determined by the object geometry which can be used to find the maximum stress in the stress concentration distribution. The stress concentration factor is empirically measured for several common features such as fillets and holes, and is usually tabulated in relevant mechanics of materials textbooks. $K=\dfrac{\sigma_{max}}{\sigma_{avg}}$ The maximum stress acting on the object is used to determine whether or not the object will meet failure criteria. Therefore, it is of extreme importance to analyze stress concentrations when determining if a design can handle given loading criteria.