RCraine,
No need to worry. As was already stated above, there is no American code that deals directly with stainless steel and as you have mentioned, stainless steel does not behave like carbon steel. I have reviewed the referenced design guidelines above and have been unable to see where the calculation of allowable stresses for structural stainless steel were mentioned. Without the availability of these calculations, we (as engineers) must use our best engineering judgement (believe it or not). In my case, I work on propriety designs for a company that has been in the business for years. In this design work we have dealt very closely with several stainless steel producers (Allegheny Ludlum being one of them). Without an American code, we are forced to design to the next best thing (AISC code - in this case - taking conservative values for Fy, E, etc). Much of our design work is stiffened plate, built-up sections, and etc that is typically very much over-designed. That being said, I would like to say that I took your comments very seriously, and have discussed these thoughts, comments, and ideas of this thread with my superiors--trying to figure out what (if any codes) we should be designing too. Our client base certainly is not interested in us designing to a Eurocode (not to mention that none of our engineers are familiar with it). So until an American structural stainless steel code is adapted, we will continue to use our best engineering judgement.
namanges