INTENSITY OF THE STRESS SINGULARITY AT THE INTERFACE CORNER OF A BONDED ELASTIC LAYER SUBJECTED TO SHEAR

The intensity of the stress singularity r-delta (delta < 0) found at the interface corner between a thin elastic adhesive layer (L/h > 20) and one of a pair of rigid adherends has been fully determined for a shear loading. This free-edge stress intensity factor, denoted by K(f), depends on a characteristic stress, layer height, and Poisson's ratio in a manner analogous to that determined previously for a layer subjected to transverse tension. Specifically, K(f) = sigma*h1-lambda-A(s)(v), where sigma* is a characteristic shear stress, 2h is layer thickness, lambda-1 is the order of the stress singularity, and A(s)(v) is a function defined for shear loading. Both lambda-1 and A(s)(v) depend only on Poisson's ratio, and their values are tabulated and plotted. The reported relation for K(f) is applicable to plane strain and axisymmetric geometries.