Fatigue Life Estimation of Adhesively Bonded Lap Joints

This paper describes a method of estimating the fatigue life of adhesively bonded lap joints on the basis of the stress analysis in adhesive layer with finite element method. First, cyclic tensile fatigue tests were conducted for adhesively bonded lap joints with different lap length and adhesive layer thickness. The results were evaluated from the viewpoint of the maximum values of both tensile and shear stress obtained numerically, instead of the apparent stress. Then these standardized fatigue strength were compared with those of adhesively bonded butt joints of a thin wall tube under cyclic tensile and fully reversed torsional load conditions. The results indicate that fatigue strength of lap joints evaluated from the maximum tensile stress of the adhesive layer agrees well with the fatigue strength of adhesively bonded butt joints of thin wall tube under cyclic tensile load condition. It is confirmed that fatigue strength of lap joints can be estimated adequately based on the fatigue strength of the butt joint of thin wall tube and the numerical results for the stress state of adhesive layer.