Meshless analysis of the stress singularity in composite adhesive joints

Abstract

Adhesives are an exceptionally well-suited method for joining composites. Unlike other methods, such as bolting or riveting, adhesives do not introduce holes in their joining material. This is a significant advantage in the case of composites because the holes required by bolting or riveting induce stress concentrations and can also lead to tears, burrs or delamination. A point of concern in adhesive joints is the adhesive/adherend interface corner where a stress singularity occurs, and failure usually initiates. Thus, it is crucial to study this stress singularity to better understand adhesive joints’ mechanical behaviour.The goal of this work is to validate the application of the Intensity of Singular Stress Fields (ISSF) criterion to meshless methods, in this case, the Radial Point Interpolation Method (RPIM). With this purpose, eight overlap lengths (LO) in single-lap joints (SLJ) composed of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) and bonded with a brittle adhesive were experimentally and numerically tested. Furthermore, an extrapolation based method is implemented to determine the critical stress singularity components (Hc) necessary for the strength predictions. In the end, the experimental and numerical results are compared to assess the suitability of the method. It was found that the ISSF criterion can be accurately applied to meshless methods and composite materials successfully, given the simplicity of the method applied.