| The allowable stress or allowable strength is the maximum stress (tensile, compressive or bending) that is allowed to be applied on a structural material. The allowable stresses are generally defined by building codes, and for steel, and aluminum is a fraction of their yield stress (strength):
In the above equation,  is the allowable stress,  is the yield stress, and  is the factor of safety or safety factor. This factor is generally defined by the building codes based on particular condition under consideration.
Since tension members do not generally buckle, they can resist larger loads (larger ) due to small value.
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