Abstract

The fracture behavior of adhesively-bonded pultruded double cantilever beam specimens is studied in this chapter. The crack propagates along paths away from the symmetry plane and is accompanied by fiber bridging. Finite element models are developed to quantify the effects of asymmetry and fiber bridging on the fracture energy. The virtual crack closure technique can be used for calculation of the fracture components at the crack tip and an exponential traction–separation cohesive law can be applied to simulate the fiber-bridging zone. The cohesive zone model developed in this chapter can be used for simulating progressive crack propagation in other joint configurations composed of the same adherends and adhesive.

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