Comparison between experimental and numerical study of the adhesively bonded scarf joint and double scarf joint: Influence of internal singularity created by geometry of the double scarf joint on the damage evolution

The objective is to investigate the influence of singularity created by the internal geometry of the double scarf joint, on the damage evolution to the adhesively bonded joint. Several finely instrumented tests are carried out to characterize the damage process unlike the ultimate failure of the adhesively bonded joint. The approach is to compare the micromechanical behavior of adhesively bonded scarf joint and double scarf joint, with the same scarf angle value. Experimental results are obtained by strain gauge measurements to distinguish three damage thresholds, which characterize the damage evolution of the adhesively bonded joint. Numerical results use a damage criterion in order to predict progressive damage evolution. The numerical results show the viability of the failure criterion and the complementarity between experimental and numerical works allows refining our final conclusions.