Remaining Structural Capacity of Broken Laminated Safety Glass

Alexander Kott, Thomas Vogel

To confirm the load carrying capacity of overhead glazing, accessible glass and all other basic glass sections modern calculation procedures are used and a verification of the remaining structural capacity is required. This verifi cation is typically done by full scale tests. This project is part of the European COST action C13 "Glass and Interactive Building" and aims at formulating mechanical models to describe load transfer mechanisms in broken glass in order to satisfy safety requirements. The term "remaining structural capacity" is defined and simulations are to be developed to verify it.

In the unbroken stage laminated safety glass is a sandwich structure, consisting of at least two glass panels and a Poly-Vinyl-Butyral (PVB)-fi lm. The first part discusses the effect of cross section geometry and different types of glass on the load carrying capacity as well as on remaining structural capacity. The non linear, viscoelastic stress-strain behaviour of the PVB film is determined using tensile tests. Based on the formulated constitutive equations, test specimens with prefabricated fracture patterns and cracks are evaluated in bending tests.

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