Prediction of Pre- and Post-Breakage Behavior of Laminated Glass Using a Phase-Field Damage Model

• Published in: Applied sciences 2023-02, Vol.13 (3), p.1708
• Main Authors: Schmidt, Jaroslav, Janda, Tomáš, Šejnoha, Michal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Breakage; Crack propagation; Cracks; Damage assessment; Dynamic models; Energy; Finite element analysis; Glass; Interlayers; laminated glass; Laminates; Layers; low velocity impact; Mindlin plate theory; phase-field damage model; Polymers; Safety glass; Software; Stiffness; Tensile strength; Viscoelasticity
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app13031708

Laminated glass composed of several layers of glass plies bonded to a polymer interlayer enjoys ever growing interest in modern architecture. Being often used in impact protection designs requires understanding of both pre- and post-breakage behavior of these structures. This paper contributes to this subject by examining an application of an explicit phase field dynamic model to the description of fracture in a laminated glass subjected to a low velocity impact. The achieved results indicate the ability of the proposed model to successfully describe the onset of damage and subsequent crack propagation. It has, however, been observed that a relatively fine mesh is needed to interpolate a sharp discontinuity accurately, which makes this approach computationally demanding. The model is first validated against experimental results obtained for a single-layer float glass. Next, the usability of the phase-field damage model as a crack predictor in individual layers of the composite is investigated. The dependence of the results on residual stiffness, element type, and initial tensile strength is examined and discussed.