Cohesive zone parametric analysis in the tensile impact strength of tubular adhesive joints

The use of tubular adhesive joints has considerably grown, including applications in truss/vehicles frames and fluid transportation pipelines, but the impact performance of these joints is under addressed in the literature. It thus becomes pertinent to propose modelling techniques to predict and characterize tubular joints to withstand these loads, which involve a higher modelling complexity than the static loading case. This work evaluates, by cohesive zone modelling (CZM), the tensile impact strength of tubular joints between AW6082-T651 aluminium alloy adherends and bonded with different adhesives. Initially, CZM validation was accomplished with single-lap joint (SLJ) data. For the tubular joints, the influence of geometric parameters was evaluated by changing the overlap length (L_O) and outer tube thickness (t_SE). The analysis begins with an elastic stress analysis to the adhesive layer, followed by maximum load (P_m) and dissipated energy at failure (U) predictions using CZM, impact velocity effect and comparison with static analytical solutions. With this study, it was possible to evaluate the different geometrical parameters, select the optimal geometry and adhesive type, and to validate the CZM technique for the impact strength prediction of tubular adhesive joints.