Efficient adaptive mesh refinement modeling of adhesive joints

The smoothing element analysis for stress recovery and error estimation is applied to facilitate adaptive finite element solutions of adhesively bonded structures. The formulation is based on the minimization of a penalized discrete least-squares variational principle leading up to the recovery of C-1-continuous stress fields from discrete, Gauss-point finite element stresses. The smoothed distributions are then used as reference solutions in a posteriori error estimators. Adaptive mesh refinements are performed to predict the linearly elastic response of uniformed and tapered double splice adhesively bonded joints. Key aspects pertaining to specific smoothing strategies, adaptive refinement solutions, and detailed stress distributions are discussed. Consistent comparisons are also presented with Oplinger's one-dimensional adhesive lap joint analysis.