The structural integrity field (abbreviated SIF) is a technology developed by spacefaring cultures to supplement the natural structural integrity of the material their starship hulls or other constructions are composed of. Engineers use a structural integrity force field to supplement the supports and bulkheads the give a piece of architecture its shape. This technology was made necessary by the fantastic stresses and probability of a hull breach presented by warp fields and spatial phenomena present in the galaxy.
The field strength is usally measured in percentages. A structural integrity reading of 100% means that the field is accepting a maximum load of the stresses presented to the structure, and that all physical architecture is safe from that stress. As the percentage approaches zero, this means that more and more of the stress of weapons, gravity and other phenomena is being experienced by the hull itself rather than the force field. As the hull becomes damaged or breaches, the SIF becomes less effective as the hull it was designed to hold together starts to disintegrate.
- TNG: "Force of Nature"
- DS9: "Past Prologue"
- DS9: "The Passenger"
- DS9: "Starship Down"
- VOY: "Year of Hell, Part I"
- VOY: "One"
- ENT: "Azati Prime"