On the buckling of plates under global tension

It is well known that flat plates subjected to tensile loads may buckle locally in the presence of geometric discontinuities such as cracks or holes [1,2,3]. However it appears to be surprising that even in the absence of;any geometric discontinuity, buckling due to global tension occurs as a result of special boundary conditions. In real live this effect can be observed during the stretching of thin strips, where high wave number buckling modes can affect large areas. In order to study this phenomenon and to find explanations, computational investigations were performed and analytical estimates have been derived. A novel diagram for buckling coefficients is presented, enabling a simple determination of critical longitudinal stresses.