Fracture Characterization of Naval Steel Ductile Adhesive Joints Under Mode I Loading

Abstract

[Abstract] The increase application of adhesive bonded joints in shipbuilding requires the development of accurate and suitable methodologies to measure the fracture properties of these connections. In this work, the Tapered Double Cantilever Beam (TDCB) test was used to perform fracture characterization under mode I loading of ductile adhesive bonded joints considering naval steel adherends. Experimental fracture tests were carried out under quasi-static loading. The load-displacement curves were registered and used to obtain the Resistance-curves after post-processing analysis. In this context, two data reduction methods not depending on crack length monitoring during the fracture tests were proposed. A finite element analysis including cohesive zone modelling was performed aiming to validate the followed procedure. It was concluded that the TDCB test is a good option regarding fracture characterization of steel bonded joints, namely when ductile adhesives are used.