The investigations so far available with regard to stress analysis of adhesive joints assume that the adhesive is elastic. In the present analysis the time dependent properties of the adhesive are taken into account by assuming that the adhesive is viscoelastic. The viscoelastic analysis of a tubular joint has been attempted using a prony series fitting for the relaxation modulus of two adhesives. The long term redistribution of the stresses in the adhesive is evaluated using the finite element method. © 1976, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.