End Effects for Anti-Plane Shear Deformations of Periodically Laminated STrips with Imperfect Bonding

The axial decay of Saint-Venant end effects is investigated for anti-plane shear deformations of semi-infinite generally laminated anisotropic strips. Imperfect bonding conditions are imposed at the interfaces. The analytical approach, using a displacement field which decays exponentially in the axial direction, gives rise to a transcendental equation for the real eigenvalues. The decay rate for the stresses is given in terms of the smallest positive eigenvalue. Laminated strips with periodic layout are then considered. In the presence of imperfect bonding, the effective shear elastic moduli, computed through a homogenization method, depend on the total number of slipping interfaces in the laminate. Numerical examples confirm that the decay lengths computed with effective shear moduli represent the asymptotic values (for an increasing number of layers) for those of periodically laminated strips. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.