THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF CFRP STEP-BONDED TO BUTTED STEEL PLATES

Abstract

  For the CFRP bonded to butted steel plates, higher stiffness of CFRP plates is required to reduce the shear stress in adhesive at butt end. However, as the stiffness of CFRP plates becomes high, shear stress in adhesive at the ends of CFRP plates becomes also high. Therefore, it can be presumed that the shear stresses in adhesive at butt end as well as at CFRP plate ends become small by bonding CFRP plates with stepped ends. In this study, CFRP step-bonded to butted steel plates is theoretically analysed. Then, the conditions to minimize the shear stress in adhesive for CFRP step-bonded to butted steel plates are given.