Dynamic Failure of Lap Joints

In some important situations a structure and joints within it are required to collapse in a controlled way so as to absorb energy and mitigate the effects of the impact loading. Under rapid collapse in a crash situation, the behaviour of the joints forming a structure can be different to that of the statically loaded case. In this paper, an experimental investigation is described which explores the behaviour of lap joints under dynamic conditions. It was found that the failure modes are insensitive to the test speed although the absorbed energy and mean loads increase significantly with respect to the test velocity.