Localized Thermal Analysis of Adhesively Bonded Single-lap Joints using Full Layerwise Theory

Abstract

Construction of a complex mechanical structure as a uniform system with no separate parts is usually very difficult or even impossible. Therefore, using several kinds of bonded joints to collect these parts together seems to be undeniable. Although using some kinds of bonding joints in construction of such a complex system can considerably simplify the manufacturing processes and reduce the costs, it may decrease the overall strength of the structure which is subjected to external loadings. One of the most important aspects in evaluating the strength of a well-designed bonded joint under thermal or mechanical loading is to find how the interfacial transverse stresses distribute interior the bond-line and particularly near the edges of bonding region. The localized thermal effects especially appear near the edges of the bond-line, where the edge effects significantly affect the stress distributions. Within the framework of the full layerwise theory, this paper presents accurate analytical solutions for interfacial stresses produced in an adhesively bonded single-lap joint under thermal loadings. These analytical investigations particularly emphasize on the localized thermal effects near the edges of bonding region. The effects of change of temperature as well as different adherends’ temperature on the stress distributions and their maxima are studied. The present results show significant increases in magnitude f both interfacial peel and shear stresses near the bond-line edges. These considerable changes might become responsible to failure of the joint. The present results, which are compared with analytical and numerical investigations available in the literature, can be introduced as scaling solutions to evaluate reliability of other approximate methods.