Mode II Fracture of GFRP Laminates Bonded Interfaces under 4-ENF Test

Abstract EN

This experiment studies the mode II fracture behavior of an adhesively bonded joint composed of GFRP laminates.

A new beam model is presented to calculate the mode II ERR for GFRP bonded 4-ENF specimens.

In this model, the deformation of 4-ENF specimens caused by the relative deflection angle between the upper and lower layers and by the bending deformation of the upper and lower layers, respectively, is introduced; the effect of the adhesive layer deformation is presented.

The closed-form analytical solutions of compliance and energy release rate based on the crack compliance method are obtained.

The high accuracy of present analytical solutions are verified by finite element analysis through bonded GFRP 4-ENF specimens and compared to the rigid joint model and the CBT model.

The interfacial crack propagation is numerically simulated using shear fracture toughness determined in this experiment, from which the predicted critical load results are in good agreement with the experimental results.

The conclusion indicates that the compliance and ERR can accurately be predicted using the new bonded 4-ENF beam model.