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An extensive numerical study of the « plastic wedge peel test » is performedin order to analyse the mode I steady state debonding of a sandwich structure made of twothin metallic plates bonded with an adhesive. A cohesive zone model characterised by themaximum separation stress and the work of adhesion represents the behaviour of theadhesive bond. A steady-state finite element code accounting for finite rotation has beendeveloped. All relevant parameters of the test have been studied in a wide range in orderto describe their relationship with the parameters of the cohesive zone. An original methodfor identifying the cohesive zone parameters is presented and tested on experimental datagenerated with different adhesives.