A COMPARISON OF 2-DIMENSIONAL AND 3-DIMENSIONAL FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSES OF ADHESIVE JOINTS

The validity of modelling adhesive joints as two-dimensional problems has been assessed. Results are presented from a series of three-dimensional adhesive joint analyses and using these, modifications to two-dimensional analyses are proposed which yield results that compare favourably with their three-dimensional counterparts. This is achieved primarily by adjusting the two-dimensional loading and is shown to be extremely effective. Comparison of both the adhesive stress distributions and the energy release rates associated with crack growth from the two- and three-dimensional analyses have been made.