Effects of different design parameters on the stone-impact resistance of automotive windshields

Abstract

A constitutive model based on continuum damage mechanics is used to study the stone-impact resistance of automotive windshields. An axisymmetric finite element model is created to simulate the transient dynamic response and impact-induced damage tensors for laminated glass layers subject to stone-impact loading. The windshield glass consists of two glass outer layers laminated by a thin poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) layer. The constitutive behaviour of the glass layers is simulated using the continuum damage mechanics model with linear damage evolution. The PVB layer is modelled with a linear viscoelastic solid. The model is used to predict and examine damage patterns on different glass surfaces for different windshield designs including variations in ply thickness and curvatures.