Research on the shear stress of single-lap joints using a variational method

Abstract

A great amount of research has been conducted on adhesive joints as they are widely used in industry. In this study, in order to simplify the calculations and obtain more accurate results for the potential energy of adhesive joints, a variational method was used to investigate the stress distribution of adhesive single-lap joints with variable geometrical characteristics and material properties. A two-dimensional finite-element model, Volkersen method and experiments were used to validate the presented model. It was found that if the overlap length is long enough, increasing the length does not reduce the maximum shear stress. It was also found that the maximum shear stress occurs at the loaded side of the thinner plate when the material is the same, and occurs at the loaded side of the plate with the smaller elastic modulus when the two plates have the same thickness. ARTICLE HISTORY