A viscoelastic-viscoplastic model to describe creep and strain rate effects on the mechanical behaviour of adhesively-bonded assemblies

Most of the adhesives used in the marine industry are polymers with a mechanical behaviour which is strongly influenced by the strain rate. Therefore, it is important to predict with accuracy their viscous behaviour. To describe their mechanical behaviour in a bonded joint, a viscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive law is proposed here. The viscous effects on the elastic behaviour are described using a spectral distribution, which divides the...