Abstract
We extend the study [1] devoted to the dynamic response of a structure made up of two linearly elastic bodies connected by a thin soft adhesive layer made of a Kelvin–Voigt-type nonlinear viscoelastic material to the cases of stiff and very stiff adhesives whose mass vanishes. We use a nonlinear extension of Trotter’s theory of convergence of semi-groups of operators acting on variable spaces to identify the asymptotic behavior of the mechan-ical state of the system, when some geometrical and mechanical parameters tend to their natural limits. The models we obtain describe the behavior of a structure consisting of two linearly elastic adherents perfectly bonded to a material deformable flat surface whose behavior is of the same kind as that of the genuine adhesive.