Allowable Stress Design is a unique design practice that is adopted by civil engineers while they work on their building projects. It is a practice which entails the designer ensuring that the stresses imposed on the structures owing to the service load don't exceed the elastic limit.

What is the allowable stress design method?

Allowable Stress Design (ASD) is also referred to as the service load design or working stress design (WSD). The basic conception (or design philosophy) of this method is that the maximum stress in a structural member is always smaller than a certain allowable stress in bridge working or service conditions.

What do you mean by allowable stress?

Allowable stress, or allowable strength, is the maximum stress that can be safely applied to a structure. This is usually defined in building codes and the strength of the metal in question.