Adhesively bonded joints have been investigated for several decades. In most analytical studies, the Bernoulli-Euler beam theory is employed to describe the behaviour of adherends. In the current work, three analytical models are developed for adhesively bonded joints using the Timoshenko beam theory for elastic material and a Bernoulli-Euler beam model for viscoelastic materials. One model is for the peeling test of an adhesively bonded joint, which is described using a Timoshenko beam on an elastic foundation. The adherend is considered as a Timoshenko beam, while the adhesive is taken to be a linearly elastic foundation. Three cases are considered: (1) only the normal stress is acting (mode I); (2) only the transverse shear stress is present (mode II); and (3) the normal and shear stresses co-exist (mode III) in the adhesive. The governing equations are derived in terms of the displacement and rotational angle of the adherend in each case. Analytical solutions are obtained for the displacements, rotational angle, and stresses. Numerical results are presented to show the trends of the displacements and rotational angle changing with geometrical and loading conditions. In the second model, the peeling test of an adhesively bonded joint is represented using a viscoelastic Bernoulli-Euler beam on an elastic foundation. The adherend is considered as a viscoelastic Bernoulli-Euler beam, while the adhesive is taken to be a linearly elastic foundation. Two cases under different stress history are considered: (1) only the normal stress is acting (mode I); and (2) only the transverse shear stress is present (mode II). The governing equations are derived in terms of the displacements. Analytical solutions are obtained for the displacements. The numerical results show that the deflection increases as time and temperature increase. The third model is developed using a symmetric composite adhesively bonded joint. The constitutive and kinematic relations of the adherends are derived based on the Timoshenko beam theory, and the governing equations are obtained for the normal and shear stresses in the adhesive layer. The numerical results are presented to reveal the normal and shear stresses in the adhesive.

Bridge decks are commonly subjected to harsh environmental conditions that often lead to serious corrosion problems triggered by blisters under the hot mix asphalt bridge deck surfacing and secretly evolving during weather exposure until damage is often detected too late. Blisters may form under both the waterproofing dense mastic asphalt layer or under the waterproofing membrane which is often applied as additional water protection under the mastic asphalt (MA). One of the main technical issues is the formation of blisters under the membrane and asphalt-covered concrete structures caused by a complex mechanism governed by bottom-up pressure and loss of adhesion. A linear viscoelastic finite-element model was developed to simulate time-dependent blister growth in a dense mastic asphalt layer under uniformly applied pressure with and without temperature and pressure fluctuation. A finite element model was developed using ABAQUS with linear viscoelastic properties and validated with a closed form solution from first-order shear-deformation theory for thick plates. In addition, the blister test was conducted on different samples of MA in the laboratory and digital image correlation measurement technique was used to capture the three-dimensional vertical deflection of the MA over time. It was found that the blister may grow continuously under repeated loading conditions over subsequent days. With respect to blistering under waterproofing membranes, mechanical elastic modeling and experimental investigations were performed for three different types of membranes under in-plane stress state. The orthotropic mechanical behavior of a polymer modified bitumen membrane (PBM) was determined from biaxial test data. Finally, blister tests by applying controlled pressure between orthotropic PBMs and concrete plates were performed for studying the elliptical adhesive blister propagation using digital 3D image correlation. The energy calculated from elliptical blister propagation was found comparable to the adhesive fracture energy from standard peeling tests for similar types of PBMs. This indicates that the peeling test assists to evaluate and rank the adhesive properties of different types of membranes with respect to blister formation at room temperature without conducting time consuming and complicated pressurized blister propagation tests using digital 3D image correlation. / <p>QC 20130625</p>

<div>In this thesis, we propose a model to predict the interfacial delamination in a flexible solar cell. The interface in a multilayer Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide (CIGS) flexible solar cell was studied applying the principles of fracture mechanics to a fixed-arm-peel test. </div><div>The principles of fracture mechanics ( J-integral and cohesive model) were implemented in a finite element software to compare the experimental with the numerical peeling force. A fixed-arm-peel test was used to obtain the peeling force for different peeling angles. This peel force and material properties from the CIGS solar cell were processed in several non-linear equations, so the energy required to start the delamination was obtained.The accuracy of the model was compared by fitting the experimental and numerical peeling force, which had a difference of 0.08 %. It is demonstrated that the peeling process for 90-degree could be replicated in COMSOL® software for a CIGS solar cell.</div>

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