Novel design of a bonded lap joint

A new design of a single-lap joint was proposed and investigated experimentally. In this new design, load eccentricity as well as singular peel stresses in the joint interface were avoided. In fact, numerical calculations show that, in the new design, the peel stress becomes compressive in the joint end region, and the shear load is more evenly transferred over the length of the joint. Two adherend layups, that is, [0/90/0/90](2s) and [90/0/90/0](2s), were considered. Experimental results show that the strength of the new joint is significantly higher than that of the conventional single-lap joint. It is believed that even higher strength can be obtained by optimizing the new design configuration.