Determination of the envelopes for mode-mixity evaluation of adhesively bonded steel

Abstract

This study is about the effect of the adhesive thickness and adhesive ductility on the mixed mode loading of DoubleCantilever Beam joints.The project is divided into three main tasks. The first task is about the development of a finite element model using acohesive zone model to design an experimental device based on the standard ASTM D6671D.The second task is concerned with the generation of experimental results in mixed mode varying the type of adhesiveand the adhesive thickness. In the third task, the experimental results will be used to develop an adhesive toughnessmodel as a function of the mode mixity.A dual actuator load frame from Virginia Techs Engineering Science & Mechanics Dept. was used to obtain theenvelopes for mode mixity for three different adhesives and thicknesses.A proposal for a data reduction scheme for the determination of the strain energy release rate is presented and validatedin this paper without the need of the experimental measure of the crack length.