Application of two-state M-integral for analysis of adhesive lap joints

Abstract

With the aid of the two-state M-integral and finite element analysis, the asymptotic solution in terms of the complete eigenfunction expansion is obtained for adhesive lap joints. The notch stress intensity is introduced to characterize the singular stress field near the notch vertex of adhesive lap joints. The proposed scheme enables us to extract the intensity of each eigenfunction term from the far field data without resort to special singular elements at the vertex. It turns out that a weak stress singularity is not negligible around the vertex when it exists in addition to the major singularity. For a thin adhesive layer, there exist two asymptotic solutions: one is the inner solution approaching the eigenfunction solution for the vertex at which the adherend meets with the adhesive and the other is intermediate solution represented by the eigenfunction series that would be obtained in the absence of the adhesive laver. An appropriate guideline for choosing the geometric parameters in designing the adhesive lap joints, particularly the overlap length or the size of the adhesive zone, is suggested from the viewpoint of minimizing the notch stress intensity. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.