Investigation on Dynamic Propagation Characteristics of In-Plane Cracks in PVB Laminated Glass Plates

Abstract

Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) laminated glass has been widely used as an important component of mechanical and construction materials. Cracks on PVB laminated glass are rich in impact information, which contribute to its impact resistance design. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation model describing PVB laminated glass under impact loading is firstly established and validated qualitatively and quantitatively compared with the corresponding experimental results recorded by the high-speed photography system. In the meantime, the extended finite element method (XFEM) is introduced to analyze the crack propagation mechanism of laminated glass based on dynamic stress intensity factors (DSIFs) and propagations of stress waves. Parametric studies are then carried out to investigate the influence of five critical parameters, that is, plate dimension, crack length, impact energy, glass properties, and PVB properties, on crack propagation characteristics of laminated glass. Results show that the interaction between crack tip and stress waves as well as the propagations of stress waves corresponds to the fluctuations of DSIFs at crack tip. Both the structure and material variables are proven to play a very important role in glass cracking DSIFs and thus govern the crack propagation behavior. Results may provide fundamental explanation to the basic crack propagation mechanism on radial cracks in PVB laminated glass under impact loading conditions, thus to instruct its impact design improvement.