The problem of residual stresses in a structural member may play an important role in determining the oyerall actual stress distribution. A theoretical and experimental inves-tigation of residual stresses in a plate subjected to com-bined tensile and bending stresses are carried out in this paper. The basic concept adopted in the investigation is to apply known stresses on the loaded plate and then release a certian value of these stresses by making two single edge cracks. Known stresses are considered as residual stresses. The released strain on the relieved portion was measured using strain gages. A comparison between the results obtained using two single edge cracks method and two double edge cracks method is presented for the case of a plate under ten-sion. A good agreement between theoretical and experimental results is obtained for the plate subjected to combined load.