Abstract
The objective of this work was to find an analytical solution to the stresses in the cohesive damage zone and the damage zone length at the interface between a fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) plate and concrete substrate. Analytical solutions have been derived to predict the stress in the cohesive layer when considering the deformation in the stiff substrate. A two-dimensional cohesive layer constitutive model with a prescribed traction-separation (stress-strain) law was constructed using a modified Williams' approach, and analytical solutions derived for the elastic zone as well as the damage zone. Detailed benchmark comparisons of analytical results with finite element predictions for a double cantilever beam specimen were performed for model verification, and issues related to cohesive layer thickness were investigated. It was observed that the assumption of a rigid substrate in analytical modelling can lead to inaccurate analytical prediction of the cohesive damage zone length.