Post-fracture response of blast loaded monolithic glass

• Main Authors: Johns, R. (Author), Clubley, S.K (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2015-07-01.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 This paper investigates transient dynamic loading and response of glazing panels. This is a complex phenomenon dependent upon material properties, structural arrangement and proximity to the explosive source. To date, modelling glazing breakup and post-fracture performance has been challenging due to the onset of initial fracture being dependent upon random micro-flaws. As a result, many have relied upon simplified SDOF models. Blast trials were conducted at MOD Shoeburyness to investigate the response of monolithic glazing panels of varying thickness at a range of overpressures. Bespoke instrumentation and high-speed photography captured initial and post-fracture performance, fragment velocity and blast pressure information. This enabled a thorough comparative study against CFD analyses. Accurate replication of the blast flow field was achieved through an in-depth sensitivity study of the CFD environment. Pressure time histories were re-mapped from CFD into an applied element method (AEM) model where fragmentation was controlled by Delaunay triangulation of the window mesh. This produced an accurate representation of the experimental results. This paper shows that transient dynamic response of glazing panels including post-fracture performance can be accurately modelled through the synthesis of fluid dynamics and AEM.