Evaluation of Bonded Joints by Cohesive Zone Models: A Descriptive Study

Cohesive Zone Models (CZM) are widely used for the strength prediction of adhesive joints. This work studies the influence of different analysis conditions, namely cohesive parameters, used in CZM simulations to model a thin adhesive layer in single-lap joints (SLJ) under a tensile loading, for an estimation of their influence on the strength prediction under diverse geometrical and material conditions. Adhesives with brittle to highly ductile properties and overlap lengths (LO) ranging from 12.5 to 50 mm were examined. Several parameters for damage start and growth were investigated. The findings of this study led to the conclusion that CZM is a powerful technique for predicting the strength of bonded joints when the modelling circumstances are adequately set.