Behavior of CFRP laminates bonded to a steel substrate using a ductile adhesive

Strengthening of steel structures with adhesively bonded carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates (or plates) has received extensive research attention over the past few years. Existing studies have revealed that debonding of CFRP plates from a steel substrate is one of the main failure modes in such CFRP-strengthened steel structures. To better understand and model debonding failures, the behavior of CFRP-to-steel bonded joints needs to be well understood. Recent tests conducted by the authors' have demonstrated that the bond strength of such bonded joints depends significantly on the properties of the adhesive used, and more specifically on the interfacial fracture energy rather than the tensile strength of the adhesive. The study has also showed that the bond-slip curves for nonlinear ductile adhesives have an approximately trapezoidal shape. This paper presents an analytical solution for the full-range behavior of CFRP-to-steel bonded joints with a ductile nonlinear adhesive. Predictions from the analytical solution are presented to explain the different stages of debonding failure and are compared with test data to demonstrate the validity of the analytical solution.