BULGING OF CRACKED PANEL IN EXTENSION DUE TO UNBALANCED PATCHING

When a cracked panel is patched only on one side, there is a tendency for the reinforced panel to bulge even if the load is applied in the p lane. The Mindlin plate theory is applied to examine such an effect. C onsidered are variations of transverse shear across the adhesive and t ransverse normal stresses through the sheet and patch. The formulation makes use of the variational principle for determining the constituti ve relations. Finite element is employed to discretize the system of e quations and to solve for the displacements of cracked panels with unb alanced patching. Stress intensity factor solutions and stresses are o btained and compared well with available numerical results and experim ental data.