Reduction of Edge Effect in Adhesive Joints of Glass Details

Adhesive joints in load-bearing structures made of glass under tension are characterized by a significant concentration of stresses at the edge. A lack of sufficiently justified solutions on how to reduce the edge effect restrains the development and use of adhesive joints. The edge effect in adhesive joints of glass details is associated with the mechanism of transfer in a mechanical load from one mating part to another through an adhesive layer. Operating conditions require increase rigidity of the adhesive joints. As a result, the stress concentration increases at the edges of the joint. A new technical approach to control the stresses at the edge by directional change of the modulus of elasticity of adhesive layer in the edge zone is justified. As an example of the calculation of model of adhesive joint consisting of elements in the form of strips, joined by an adhesive layer, it is shown that the reduction of stress concentration at the edge of the adhesive contact with simultaneous overall high rigidity of joint can be achieved by reducing the elastic modulus of adhesion layer next to the edge. The law of the elastic modulus variation is proposed as a “mirror image” to the distribution of shear stresses at the joint with a constant elastic modulus of adhesive.