Analytical Stress Analysis in Single-lap Adhesive Joints under Buckling

Adhesive joints find numerous applications in various industrial fields. They represent a valid alternative to traditional joining methods. Much of the available scientific literature has focused on the study of adhesive joints subjected to tensile loads. There have also been numerous studies concerning the stresses distributions in the adhesive layer. However, in real case applications, adhesive joints could also be subject to cyclic tensile-compression loads and therefore could be subject to buckling phenomena. The objective of the present paper is to investigate the numerical study of the stress distribution in the adhesive layer under buckling condition. The study presented develops with the analysis of a single-lap joint with a combination of steel adherends and three different structural adhesives with different thickness and Young’s modulus. The joints are modeled using FE ANSYS©19 software. Through numerical analyzes, it is possible to predict the value of the critical load for each single analyzed combination. Once the critical load is determined, the stresses in the middle plane of the adhesive layer are determined. The results obtained show that for small adhesive thicknesses (i.e. 0.30 mm) it is possible to reduce the stress peaks - with the same critical load value - by using structural adhesives with low elastic modulus (e.g. silicones).