Thanks Leslie, but I need to know what the allowable stress is in the steel. For Example...a beam in bending with proper lateral bracing has the allowable bending stress, Fb=0.66Fy. A beam with the proper web to thickness ratio has the allowable shear stress, Fv=0.40Fy. I need to know what the allowable shear stress is in plate steel. I've been using 0.40Fy, but I think that I'm being conservative.