Closed-Form Solution Procedure for Simulating Debonding in FRP Strips Glued to a Generic Substrate Material

The present paper proposes a useful closed-form solution for a wide class of mechanical problems, among which one of the most relevant and debated is the deboning process of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) strips glued to generic materials and possibly intended as a mode-II fracture process. Specifically, after outlining well-known equations, a novel piecewise analytical formulation based on a cascading solution process is proposed with the aim of keeping the mathematical expressions of the relevant mechanical quantities as simple as possible. Although other analytical solutions and numerical procedures are already available in the literature, the present one is capable of handling the softening or snap-back response deriving from the full-range simulation of the depending process with no need for complex numerical techniques. This is obtained by considering the slip at the free end of the strip as the main displacement control parameter. After some comparisons between the proposed closed-form solution and experimental results available in the literature, some mechanical considerations are highlighted by elaborating on the results of a parametric study considering the variation of the main geometric and mechanical quantities. The numerical code implemented as part of the present study is available to readers in Open Access.