Numerical Modelling of Adhesive Connections Including Cohesive Damage

Adhesive connections offer a number of benefits in structural applications, especially in the case of brittle adherends such as glass. There, a multitude of materials can be used to provide structural bonding between glass and/or metal components, giving evidence of different mechanical behaviours as well as structural performances. This paper reports on a Finite Element numerical investigation carried out on small-scale adhesive joint specimens. Taking advantage of a past experimental study performed at CTU in Prague - focused on both material tests and small-scale adhesive connections subjected to shear loading - the numerical modelling approach is validated by taking into account a selection of shear tests on glass-to-steel adhesive joints. The typical specimen is composed of two glass plates bonded to two steel plates with a gap between them and four adhesive joints per one specimens. Finite Element numerical analyses are presented, as obtained from full 3D solid models representative of the specimens components. While careful consideration is spent for the mechanical description of materials, a key role is indeed assigned to cohesive surface interactions, being representative of any possible damage occurring at the interface between the adhesive layers and the bonded substrates. The sensitivity of FE results to input parameters responsible of damage initiation and propagation is discussed, based on past experimental observations.