Adhesive joints are widely used in various industries such as automotive, marine, aerospace, and construction. Because of their high strength-to-weight ratio, uniform stress distribution with reduced stress concentration, and good resistance to corrosion, these mechanical connections have distinguished structural efficiency and less production and maintenance cost. A prerequisite for optimal design of adhesive joints is accurate prediction of interfacial stress distribution. In this study, the multi-term extended Kantorovich method is used to determine the interlayer shear and peel stresses in adhesively bonded joints with composite adherends under uniaxial tension and bending moment. The governing equilibrium equations are derived in the framework of three-dimensional elasticity theory and solved analytically using the state-space approach. Unlike previous analytical methods which mainly rely on simplifying assumptions such as beam or plate theories and often lead to reduced accuracy in stress distribution prediction, the present study retains a highly accurate three-dimensional approach that allows for three-dimensional modeling of wide adhesive joints with composite adherends of general layup configuration. In comparison with the full layerwise theory and finite element simulation, results demonstrate the high accuracy of present approach in predicting the interfacial shear and peel stresses, particularly at the edges of the joint area, where the joint is more prone to failure due to edge effects.

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