Tearing of Plates:
If the rivets are stronger than the plate, then the latter may tear off before the rivets fail in shear. The plate fails along the smallest or net sectional area, that is equivalent to the gross area of the plate minus the area of the rivet hole, i.e. Anet = bt - dt = (b - d) t.
The tearing force, Ft, is given by
Ft = (b - d) t × σat
where σat is the permutable tensile strength of the plate.