ABSTRACT

Finite Element Method (FEM) modelling has been also applied to study environmental effects on adhesives and joints. This chapter provides an introduction to the fundamentals of the use of FEM in modelling adhesive joints. For design purposes, without investigating the post-elastic behaviour, a simple approach suggested by Goglio et al. is based on a limit envelope in the peel stress-shear stress plane and obtained empirically by testing specimens in different stress combinations. Since the applications of FEM to bonded joints, special formulations have been proposed to model the behaviour of the adhesive using only one element in the layer thickness, and including in the element formulation the main features in terms of stress state and deformability. Modern commercial FEM codes for non-linear analysis implement these concepts and offer the capability of solving the related structural problems; the main difficulty for the user is often in knowing the values of the various coefficients which define material properties.