Controlling the Post-Breakage Behaviour of Laminated Safety Glass

Alexander Kott
Thomas Vogel

The structural use of laminated safety glass based on Poly-Vinyl-Butyral (PVB) interlayer was established during the last decade. Architects and engineers use this building material for redundant structures with structural functions. Beside the verification of the load carrying capacity in the unbroken stage, the verification of the remaining structural capacity in broken stage is required. Neither mechanical models nor material laws are available for the broken stage to calculate the
remaining structural capacity. For this reason, the required verification is confirmed by full scale tests. In this paper a mechanical model to calculate remaining structural capacity is proposed. The different component dimensions of the glass panes and the geometry of the initial yield lines influence the post-breakage behaviour of the glass structure. Artificial fracture patterns initiated by prefabricated cracks are compared with fracture patterns by impact. The new collected experiences allow the control of the post-breakage behaviour and therefore the control of the RSC.

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