The extreme verifiable circumstance or value associated with some exogenous parameter used to measure some kind of load on a part, system, or function thereof. Usually, the limit condition is some amount of margin higher than the highest load actually expected during operations, where the margin accounts for uncertainty in derivation of the value.
Noting that the “extremum” of any population is a statistical measure of that population, a Limit Condition is actually reduction of the data rather than an analysis per se, although significant analysis may be required to fully populate the set that is to be reduced.
Sometimes called “limit case”, particularly when the parameter is array-valued1.
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