Coefficient of Variation and Its Application to Strength Prediction of Adhesively Bonded Joints

This study deals with an application of the method of the coefficient of variation in strength prediction of structural adhesive joints. Defined as the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean, the coefficient of variation may be used in both the reliability-based design of adhesively bonded joints and in the evaluation of existing products. In this study, the concept and definition of the coefficient of variation are stated. The procedure of the use of coefficient of variation for approximate calculations of statistical parameters is then presented and compared with the classical Taylor expansion method. This is illustrated with a numerical example.