Finite Element Analysis of Laminated Beams Under Transverse Loading

Laminated beams fabricated from strips with intermediate adhesive bonding layers are frequently used. The evaluation of the shear and normal stresses in the adhesive layer along the length of the beam is important and both analytical as well as experimental investigations for these stresses have been previously documented. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to compare the analytical shear stress values in the adhesive layer obtained in previous analytical work with those obtained by modelling the laminated beam using finite elements. It is also shown that the analytical approach may be extended to the approximate analysis of coupled twin shear walls.