GEOMETRIC OPTIMIZATION OF 2 BONDED WEDGES INVOLVING STRESS SINGULARITIES

Joints between dissimilar materials can cause stress singularities. Su ch joints are exemplified by the case of two bonded wedges. The stress singularity can be avoided by reshaping the wedges. An analytical the ory for the critical wedge angles of the bonded wedges is developed. T he shape is optimized by the geometric strain method, an optimality cr iterion method. Numerical examples are presented for different materia ls with/without special conditions on the wedge angles. Optimum wedge shapes are obtained and optimum corner angles are compared with analyt ical wedge-angle solutions from contact mechanics. Both analytical and numerical approaches are useful tools for reshaping the bonded wedges to avoid a stress singularity.