Influence of the moisture content on the fracture characteristics of welded wood joint. Part 1: Mode I fracture

Friction welding is a joining technique for wood materials. The positive aspects of this technique are the speed of processing and the absence of chemical or mechanical agents, but the welded joints are not water resistant. To understand better the effect of moisture on the fracture behavior of welded joints, their fracture characteristics have been investigated. The double cantilever beam specimens were tested, which permit to compute the mode I energy release rate of a welded joint. The results confirm the negative effect of moisture on the fracture properties of the joint. The data concerning the maximal tensile strength of the joining material were collected by uniaxial tests and implemented in a finite element model to establish a cohesive law, which describes the behavior of welded pieces in terms of moisture content.

Mixed mode fracture behavior of welded wood joints investigated with the Arcan test

John Botsis, Joël Cugnoni, Parviz Navi, Martin Rhême

Friction welding of wood is an assembly method that is still under investigation and development. A possible application for welded wood joints is the fabrication of multi-layered panels (i.e., cross-laminated panels). In an effort to model the behavior of such products, work is needed to characterize the mechanical strength and fracture properties of welded joints produced with parallel and cross-grain orientations. The present work addresses combined experimental and numerical investigations into the strength and fracture characterization of welded wood joints. The Arcan test setup is used for the experimental mechanical characterization. Numerical and experimental strength analyses are carried out to investigate the effect of the wood's fiber orientation and in-plane loading direction on the joint strength and fracture toughness. The results show that the orientation of the fibers does not affect the tensile and shear strength (2.3 and 7 MPa, respectively). In the case of fracture, the virtual crack closure technique is used in a finite element model to determine the critical values of energy release rate in pure and mixed modes. A mixed mode fracture criterion of the welded joint is determined.

Springer Verlag2016

Mixed-Mode Static and Fatigue Failure Criteria for Adhesively-Bonded FRP Joints

Moslem Shahverdi

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are increasingly used in many load-bearing structures. Joints are the most critical structural elements as they often become the weak links in engineering structures. Bonding and bolting are two of the main joining techniques used for composite elements but, although bolted and bonded joints have their advantages and disadvantages, adhesively-bonded joints are often preferred. This is thanks to their better performance in terms of cost-effective structures with uniformly distributed stresses without the need for cutting fastener holes that result in high stress concentrations in the FRP adherends at the edges of the holes. In addition, due to the absence of stress concentrations, adhesively-bonded joints exhibit better fatigue behavior. However, the efficient and reliable use of adhesively-bonded joints requires a thorough understanding of their failure mechanisms under mixed-mode quasi-static and fatigue loading conditions. In real structural applications, failure of adhesively-bonded joints occurs due to crack initiation and propagation under varying mixed-mode ratios. Since it is difficult to describe this progressive fracture in a structural joint, fracture joints with constant mode-mixity ratios are used to determine the strain energy release rates for crack initiation and propagation. Subsequently, mixed-mode failure criteria based on the determined strain energy release rates can be established and used to model/predict the fatigue and fracture behaviors of structural joints. The main objectives of this thesis were to understand the fracture and fatigue behaviors of adhesively-bonded FRP fracture joints under Mode I, Mode II, and mixed-Mode I/II loading conditions and, consequently, develop mixed-mode static and fatigue failure criteria applicable to structural joints. To fulfill these objectives a combined experimental-analytical-numerical study was undertaken. Double cantilever beam (DCB-Mode I), end-load split (ELS-Mode II), and mixed-mode bending (MMB-Mode I/II) specimens were examined under quasi-static and constant amplitude fatigue loading. Analytical approaches were used to determine the strain energy release rates under quasi-static and fatigue loading, whereas phenomenological models were developed to characterize the fatigue and fracture behaviors of the joints. A new approach designated the “extended global method” was established and applied for the analysis of the quasi-static and fatigue experimental data and the fracture mode partitioning in the mixed-mode experiments. In parallel, non-linear finite element models were developed to simulate the quasi-static fracture behavior and investigate the effects of both the existing asymmetry and the observed fiber bridging on the fracture behavior of the examined joints. The bridging zone was modeled by zero-thickness cohesive elements. An exponential traction-separation description of the cohesive zone model was shown to appropriately model the fiber bridging and calculate its contribution to the fracture energy under quasi-static loading. The FE models were successfully employed for the separation of the fracture parameters, i.e. strain energy released at the crack tip (Gtip) and the amount of energy released along the crack-bridging zone (Gbr), in the quasi-static mixed-mode failure criterion for crack propagation. In addition to the studies on the quasi-static fracture behavior of the joints, a new phenomenological fatigue crack growth formulation for the modeling and prediction of Rratio effects on the Mode I fatigue behavior of adhesively-bonded joints was also derived. The model was used for prediction of the fatigue behavior of the examined joints under different R-ratios. The results proved that the model could accurately simulate the fatigue behavior of the examined joints and was also capable of predicting behavior exhibited under unseen loading conditions, i.e. the R-ratios used for estimating the model parameters were different from those used for validating its prediction capability. The experimental results and numerical analyses combined with the phenomenological models were used to establish mixed-mode static and fatigue failure criteria for crack initiation and crack propagation for the adhesively-bonded joints. The derived mixed-mode failure criteria can be used for simulating/predicting the crack initiation and progressive crack propagation in structural joints comprising the same adhesive and adherends.

EPFL2013

Modeling effects of asymmetry and fiber bridging on Mode I fracture behavior of bonded pultruded composite joints

Thomas Keller, Moslem Shahverdi, Anastasios Vassilopoulos

The fracture behavior of adhesively-bonded pultruded double cantilever beam specimens was experimentally investigated. The pultruded adherends comprised two mat layers on each side with a roving layer in the middle. An epoxy adhesive was used to form the double cantilever beam specimen. The crack propagated along paths away from the symmetry plane and was accompanied by fiber bridging. Finite element models were developed to quantify the effects of asymmetry and fiber bridging on the fracture energy. The virtual crack closure technique was used for calculation of the fracture components at the crack tip and an exponential traction-separation cohesive law was applied to simulate the fiber bridging zone. The asymmetry was due to the relatively thick adhesive layer and the depth of the pre-crack. However, the Mode II fracture component obtained was less than 10% of that of Model. The fiber bridging was found to contribute significantly, by up to 60%, to the total strain energy release rate. Although the cohesive zone model developed requires experimental data for calibration of the model, it can subsequently be used for simulating progressive crack propagation in other joint configurations comprising of the same adherends and adhesive. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Elsevier2013

Mixed-Mode Static and Fatigue Failure Criteria for Adhesively-Bonded FRP Joints

Moslem Shahverdi

EPFL2013