A 2-DIMENSIONAL STRESS-ANALYSIS OF SINGLE-LAP ADHESIVE JOINTS SUBJECTED TO EXTERNAL BENDING MOMENTS

The stress distributions in single-lap adhesive joints of similar adhe rends subjected to external bending moments have been analyzed as a th ree-body contact problem using a two-dimensional theory of elasticity (plain strain state). In the analysis, both adherends and the adhesive were replaced by finite strips. In the numerical calculations, the ef fects of the ratio of Young's moduli of the adherends to that of the a dhesive and the adhesive thickness on the stress distribution at the i nterfaces were examined. It was found that the stress singularity occu rs at the edges of the interfaces and that the peel stress at the edge s of the interfaces increases with decreasing Young's modulus of the a dherends. It was noticed that the singular stress decreases at the edg es of the interfaces as the adherend thickness increases. In addition, photoelastic experiments and FEM (finite element method) calculations were carried out and fairly good agreement was found between the anal ytical and the experimental results.