A Direct Method for the Assessment of Cohesive Zone Models for Thin Adhesive Layers Loaded in Mode I, Mode II, and Mixed-Mode I/II

In the context of increasing the strength-to-mass ratio of lightweight structures, the adhesively bonded joining technology appears to be an attractive solution. Nevertheless, the adhesive bonding method is important when the structural integrity of joints has to be ensured. In the literature, the cohesive zone models (CZMs) are shown to be able to predict both the static and fatigue strengths of adhesively bonded joints. The strength prediction is dependent on material laws and associated material parameters, characterizing the bondline behaviour mainly under pure mode I, mode II and mixed-mode I/II. The characterization methods are thus crucial. This paper aims at assessing the capabilities to identify the parameters of a particular CZM for both the inverse method, based on the energy balance associated with the path independent J-integral, and of a direct method described in this present work. The particular CZM has a classical shape based on the definition of a bilinear law for each of both pure modes, associated with pure mode interaction energy laws for initiation and propagation under mixed-mode I/II. The methodology used in this paper is based on a numerical test campaign only, involving the macro-element (ME) technique. A new approach for the fast formulation and implementation of ME modelling of two bonded beams is described.