Load factor

Load factor may refer to:

• Capacity factor, the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a period of time and its output if it had operated a full capacity of that time period
• Load factor (aerodynamics), n, is the vector expressed by the ratio of the resulting mass force acting on an aircraft and the weight of the aircraft, $n=(W+Fi)/|W|=(g+a)/g=1+a/g$ where W is the weight of the aircraft and Fi is the inertia force
• Load factor (aviation), the ratio of paid passenger seats to the total seating capacity of a particular flight
• Load factor (computer science), the ratio of the number of records to the number of addresses or indexes within a data structure, see hash table
• Load factor (electrical) is the average power divided by the peak power over a period of time, see demand factor
• Load factor (structural) is a number by which a specified load is multiplied to determine the required design load, see dead load, live load and structural design

• Load Factor (aerodynamamics), is the ratio between the lift generated by the wings at any given time divided by the total weight of the airplane. The design load factor takes into account the effects of accelaration on the contents of the airplane