Adhesive strength evaluation of stepped-lap joint based on the intensity of singular stress field (ISSF)

Abstract

In this paper, the intensity of singular stress field (ISSF) is focused and newly analyzed for the stepped-lap joint, and the adhesive strength is considered in terms of the ISSF. In this problem, it is necessary to analyze the two different singular stress fields at the interface end point A and each interface corner point B_i (i=1,2…Ns-1, Ns=the number of steps) on the adhesive surface. In order to investigate the effect of the number of steps Ns on the ISSF of the stepped lap joint, four models with different numbers of steps are calculated. By comparing the stress distributions, it is found that the ISSF at point A is larger than that at point B_i. Moreover, it is also shown that the ISSF at point A decreases with increasing of step number Ns, but there is almost no change of the ISSF at points B_i.