Fracture failure prediction for composite adhesively bonded double lap joints by an experiment-based approach

This paper investigates the fracture failure behavior of composite double lap joints (DLJs) under uniaxial tensile load . A physical model is proposed where both interface energy and geometric nonlinearity are taken into account. The interface parameters are determined by an experiment-based approach. In the framework of finite fracture mechanics (FFM), the energy-stress coupled criterion is employed to predict the failure load of DLJs. A high-speed camera is utilized to capture the actual failure mode of DLJs. The numerical predictions from the present approach are validated against experimental results. The effects of the interface energy, the geometric nonlinearity and the asymmetry of the DLJ on the strain energy release rate (SERR) curves of DLJs are discussed in detail through a series of numerical investigations.