Allowable Stress for Bending Members

The allowable bending stress is a very important design parameter. It controls not only the design of beams, but also of columns when subjected to bending in addition to axial load. The following design examples in the AISC Manual show how the allowable bending stress controls the design. This paper presents a table and a formula which would help to find the value of the allowable bending stress, Fb, expeditiously. The table and formula have been derived from AISC equations.