Local buckling of aluminium and steel plates with multiple holes

•Slender plates with 1–25 holes loaded in compression have been studied.•Perforations have limited impact on Euler load and larger impact on failure.•The impact of holes on the failure load is similar for aluminium and steel.

This paper considers local buckling of perforated square aluminium plates. Plates of various slenderness with simply supported edges and subjected to uniaxial compression are studied using the finite element method. Different perforation patterns are investigated, from a single circular hole to 25 circular holes distributed over the plate. A number of aluminium alloys are considered and compared to steel grade A36. Results show that the resistance of the plates containing a single central cut-out is higher than that of plates with more holes and of equal total cut-out size. A further refinement beyond 5 holes does not influence the resistance.