Bending and Shear Deformation Effects in Lap Joints

The problem of stress distribution in adhesive joints where two orthotropic plates are bonded through a flexible adhesive layer is analyzed. The effect of bending the adherends on the stresses in the adhesive layer is very significant. However, the transverse shear deformations of the adherends have, in general, very little influence on the adhesive layer stresses; therefore these shear strains of adherends can be neglected in many practical cases. The maximum transverse normal stress in the adhesive is, in general, larger than the maximum longitudinal shear stress.