A crack bridging model for bonded plates subjected to tension and bending

A crack bridging model is presented for analysing the tensile stretching and bending of a cracked plate with a patch bonded on one side\ accounting for the e}ect of out!of!plane bending induced by load!path eccentricity inherent to one!sided repairs[ The model is formulated using both Kirchho} Poisson plate bending theory and Reissner|s shear deformation theory\ within the frameworks of geometrically linear and nonlinear elasticity[ The bonded patch is represented as distributed springs bridging the crack faces[ The springs have both tension and bending resistances ^ their sti}ness constants are determined from a one! dimensional analysis for a single strap joint\ representative of the load transfer from the cracked plate to the bonded patch[ The resulting coupled integral equations are solved using a Galerkin method\ and the results are compared with three!dimensional _nite element solutions[ It is found that the formulation based on Reissner|s plate theory provides better agreement with _nite element results than the classical plate theory[