A method to predict the failure path and mechanical response of metal sheets with randomly distributed holes under uniaxial tension has been developed. The method considers all possible failure paths and estimates the load required to break the perforated sheet along these paths. The predicted ultimate strength of the sheet is obtained by finding the failure path with the lowest possible load. The results from the model are compared to tensile experiments on a set of perforated aluminum sheets with different hole patterns. We found that the model, though relatively simple, could capture the effects that hole distribution had on the ultimate strength of the sheet. The ideas presented here could be extended to model the effect of reinforcement distribution in particle-reinforced composite materials. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. [References: 3]
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