[en] Tolerances (variations) in cross-sections of thickness inevitably occur during the manufacture of structural components including fuel pin cladding. As a consequence, the actual deformations of structural members under loading may be quite different from the computed values of 'ideal' structures without such variations. The purpose of this paper is to present a method to predict uniaxial and biaxial maximum uniform engineering strains, which corespond to the ultimate tensile stresses, of structural members with slightly varying cross-sections. Calculations have been made with test data for irradiated annealed, and both unirradiated and irradiated 20% cold-worked Type 316 stainless steel at different temperatures and strain rates. (Auth.)