Assessment of the Cohesive Contact method for the analysis of thin-walled bonded structures

Several finite element (FE) techniques for the structural analysis of bonded joints and structures have been proposed in the literature. This paper deals with the assessment of a new surface interaction technique that models the adhesive as a pure contact with cohesive properties. This technique is a new feature of the FE software ABAQUS. The work has two objectives. Firstly, to assess the applicability, efficiency and accuracy of this Cohesive Contact (CC) method in the analysis of three dimensional, thin-walled bonded structures. Secondly, to compare the CC method with a similar technique, called Tied Mesh (TM) method, previously proposed by the authors. By considering as benchmark standard and ad hoc bonded joints and structures, the CC method is checked against a full FE model in the elastic field and with the outcome of experimental tests in the post-elastic field. Also, the TM method is implemented for all these geometries, in order to obtain a comparison. The results show that the CC method gives a fair prediction both in the elastic and post-elastic field, with lower accuracy than the TM method.