Stress Distribution in the Cantilevered Single-Lap Adhesive Joint
The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of bending on the actual stress distribution of a cantilevered single-lap adhesive joint under tension using the 3D FEA method. Five layers of elements were used across the adhesive thickness in order to obtain an accurate indication of the variation of stresses. All the numerical results obtained from the FEA show that the spatial distribution of all components of stress are similar for different interfaces though the stress values are obviously different. The results also show that the maximum value of the stress component S33 is higher than the maximum value of the stress component S11 which would have been expected to be the most dominant since the joint is subjected to tensile loading. The reason for this behaviour is the effect of bending at the bonded section of the joint.