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	Applies To
	Product(s):	STAAD.Pro
	Version(s):	ALL
	Environment:	ALL
	Area:	Postprocessing workflow
	Subarea:
	Original Author:	Bentley Technical Support Group

How can I find the maximum shear stress on my plate element model?

Since there are several types of shear stress results we can get from STAAD, the expression "maximum shear stress" needs to be clarified. So, let us first see what the choices are :

SXY - For any given element, this is the in-plane shear stress on the element and acts along the plate local X-Y axes directions.

TMAX - This is the maximum inplane shear stress on the element and is a composite of SXY and the stress resulting from torsion MXY.

SQX - This is the out-of-plane shear stress on the X face at the centroid of the element.

SQY - This is the out-of-plane shear stress on the Y face at the centroid of the element.

All of these results can be obtained in a report form, with additional options like sorting done in ascending or descending order for a user-defined set of elements and a user-defined set of load cases. As an example, do the following for getting a report of TMAX sorted in the order from maximum to minimum for all plates for load cases 4 and 5.

Go to the Postprocessing workflow, Results -> Reports -> Principal stresses. Select TMAX, and set the sorting order from High to Low. Switch on "Absolute values" also to perform sorting based on Absolute values. Click on the Loading tab, and select just cases 4 and 5. Click on OK. A report will be displayed. Click the right mouse button inside the table and select Print.