Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3353

Leuven, Belgium, 4-6 July 2011

G. De Roeck, G. Degrande, G. Lombaert, G. Müller (eds.)
ISBN 978-90-760-1931-4

Experimental and numerical investigations about

laminated glass loaded by air blast waves
M. Larcher1 , N. Gebbeken1 , M. Teich1 , G. Solomos2
1 Universität
der Bundeswehr München, Institut für Statik und Mechanik, D-85577 Neubiberg, Gemany
2 Joint Research Centre, IPSC, European Laboratory for Structural Assessment, I-21027 Ispra, Italy

email: martin.larcher@unibw.de, norbert.gebbeken@unibw.de, martien.teich@unibw.de, george.solomos@jrc.ec.europa.de

ABSTRACT: The simulation of laminated glass loaded by air blast waves is complex. The behaviour of Polyvinylbutyral (PVB)
under short term loading shows an elastic-hardening behaviour. The Young’s modulus and the hardening factor depend on the
strain rate. Several numerical models are investigated to find a model which represents the failure of the glass as well as of the
PVB interlayer. Layered elements with a special failure criterion can be used very efficiently. The integration points over the
thickness use different materials. After the failure of an integration point in glass, the stresses in this integration point are set to
0.0 if the strains are positiv. The material can still react to compression stress. If the interlayer reaches the failure criterion of
PVB, the element is eroded. The layered model shows a good correlation with experiments – also in cases where the interlayer
fails. In comparison to this a full 3D solid model is presented, where the behaviour of the combination of the glass splinters
and the interlayer can be investigated. A new experiment with laminated glass is performed to validate the numerical results. The
laminated glass is clamped to a metal frame and loaded by an air blast wave using a shock tube. The experiments are compared with
calculations. The numerical model can represent the experimental behaviour and can be used to simulate the failure of laminated
glass loaded by air blast waves.

KEY WORDS: Laminated glass; layered model; polyvinylbutyral; air blast loading

1 INTRODUCTION attention is paid to the material behaviour of the interlayer

since its behaviour is fundamental in case of the collapse of the
Laminated glass is widely used to protect the interior of a
combined structure.
structure from the influence of an air blast. Laminated glass
is built with at least two layers of glass and an interlayer of
Polyvinylbutyral (PVB). The glass plies are either annealed,
toughened or tempered. The aim of the interlayer is to prevent
the development of splinters which could injure people. After
the failure of the glass layers, the interlayer glues the splinters
together. The reaction of the interlayer concerning the shear
depends on the loading rate. Under long time loading conditions
the shear behaviour of the interlayer is very important and a
sandwich theory should be applied. Often, the glass plies are
neglected to be conservative in such a case. The shearing of the
interlayer has a much smaller influence in fast loaded laminated
glass. This effect is discussed in more detail in Section 4.2.1.
The failure of a laminated glass sheet can be distinguished in Figure 1. Schematic failure of laminated glass
five phases (Figure 1):
1. Elastic behaviour of both glass plies.
2. The first glass ply is broken, the other glass ply is still intact, 1.1 Analytical Approaches
interlayer is not damaged. The behaviour of quasi-static loaded laminated glass is
3. The second glass ply fails. The interlayer reacts elastically. described by Behr [1]. Behr [1] and Norville [2] show that the
4. The interlayer reacts plastically. behaviour of laminated glass up to the failure of the first ply is
5. The interlayer fails. similar to monolithic glass under fast dynamic loading. This
While phase (1) and its limit can be modelled with several simplification is used by Weggel [3] to determine the behaviour
analytical and numerical methods, phases (2) to (5) are more of laminated glass loaded by low level blast waves. The
complex to simulate. The objective to this paper is to show the numerical results show a good agreement with the experimental
possibilities for the simulation of the behaviour of laminated data.
glass loaded by air blast waves. Three different models are Single degree of freedom (SDOF) methods are used by
presented using different kind of material models. Special several authors in order to design glass panels which are loaded
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011
by air blast waves (for example for not laminated glass TM5-
1300 [4], and for laminated glass Morison [5]). The stiffness
of the plate in the different failure phases can be determined
with analytical or numerical methods and can be verified with
experiments. The stiffness is used in a SDOF system in
combination with damping elements. The SDOF methods are
especially useful in the preliminary design phase since the
calculation time of a SDOF system is relatively small.
1.2 Numerical Approaches
Several material models are used in the literature to model
laminated glass with finite element codes using shell or solid
elements.
Models with one shell element through the thickness use
layered materials with integration points over the thickness.
Müller [6] uses a material model for the glass which allows
a two dimensional failure. The simulation of the post-failure
under bending loading can be done with a smeared model with
two coincident shell elements (application for windshields by
Timmel [7]), where one shell element represents the behaviour
of one glass ply and the interlayer, while the other shell element
represents the second glass ply. These models are presented in
detail later on. These models are also used in an investigation
about detonations inside trains (Larcher [8]).
A combination of two shell and one solid elements through
the thickness is presented by Sun [9]. The solid element
represents the interlayer by using a hyperelastic material law.
Some authors (e.g. Wei [10], Bennison [11], Van Duser
[12]) present 3D models with solid elements and a detailed
material law for the interlayer. However, the number of degrees
of freedom increases rapidly for solid element models. The
models are used to determine the stresses in the glass and are
not used in combination with a failure model. Wei [10], for
example, uses a viscoelastic material model for PVB taking into
account the strain rate effect. Since the failure of the glass
is not considered, the results can only be used to define the
starting point of the cracking. He postulates that the negative
phase of the air blast wave has a big influence on the failure
of the glass since the stresses at the negative peak are much
higher. The influence of the negative phase of an air blast wave
is analysed by Teich and Gebbeken [13] for elastic structures
and by Krauthammer [14] for conventional glass. The negative
phase has a significant influence if the scaled distance is large
since the negative pressure can be in the same range as the
positive one.
1.3 Glass and Blast
Some investigations are presented which show the behaviour
of laminated safety glass loaded by air blast waves. Weggel
[15] presents experiments and numerical investigations for low
level blast loads. A conventional façade is strengthened by
using laminated glass instead of monolithic glass and by using
structural silicone sealant instead of compression gaskets. The
properties of the PVB interlayer are ignored due to results of
Norville [2].
Wei [10] presents finite element calculations using a
viscoelastic material model for PVB taking into account the
3354
strain rate effect. He concludes that the negative phase has a
strong influence if the scaled distance is large.
2 STRUCTURES LOADED BY AIR BLAST WAVES
2.1 Air Blast Waves
Air blast waves result from a rapid release of energy. The
magnitude of the pressure of an air blast wave that arrives at
a certain point depends on the distance and on the size of the
charge. An idealised form of a pressure-time function at a
certain distance from the explosive is shown in Figure 2.
p
idealised
approximation
pmax
pmin
p0
t
ta td t n /2 t n /2
Figure 2. Pressure-time curve for a free air blast wave
The main characteristics of a free field air blast wave are the
following:
• The shock wave of the air blast arrives at the point under
consideration at the arrival time ta .
• The pressure attains its maximum (peak overpressure pmax )
very fast (extremely short rise time). The pressure then starts
to decrease until it reaches the reference pressure p0 (in most
cases the atmospheric pressure).
• The duration of the positive phase td is the time taken to
reach this reference pressure. After this point the pressure
drops below the reference pressure to the maximum negative
pressure pmin . The duration of the negative phase is denoted
as tn .
• The overpressure impulse (positive impulse) is the integral of
the overpressure curve over the positive phase td .
The idealised (free air blast) form of the pressure wave in
Figure 2 can be significantly altered by the morphology of
the medium encountered along its propagation. For instance,
the incident peak pressure can be magnified up to 14 times
if the wave is reflected by a rigid obstacle. The reflection
effects depend on the geometry, material, size and the angle
of incidence (see Gebbeken [16] for more details). The
situation is much more complicated if there are several reflection
boundaries, as it happens in urban environments. Venting is
a very important phenomenon in case of internal explosions
(Larcher [17]). Glass panels could not act as venting areas since
their reaction to the blast wave is too slow.
A widely used way to describe the shape of the air blast pulse
is the so-called modified Friedlander equation (e.g. Baker [18])
which proposes a function for the positive phase of the air blast
wave.
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011
3 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS
Experiments with air blast loaded laminated glass are often done
in specialized laboratories. However, nearly all experimental
results are confidential since they are mainly done for the
approval of a specific industrial building product. Therefore,
all these data cannot be used to develop or improve design rules
or to verify numerical calculations.
The publically available basis for the verification of numerical
calculations is small, and most of these experiments are using
float (annealed) glass (Table 1). Therefore, five new experiments
have been performed using glass panels with a dimension of 890
mm x 1090 mm and a total thickness of 14 mm. The glazing was
made of 6 mm heat-strengthened glass according to EN 1863,
2.28 mm PVB, 6 mm heat-strengthened glass.
The tests (details in Kranzer [19]) were performed according
to the European Standards DIN EN 13541 [20]. Particular
attention was paid to the clamping construction since it can be
very important for the response of the laminated glass panel,
and consequently for the verification of the simulations. The
procedures and setup of the shock tube testing are described in
DIN EN 13123-1 [21] and DIN EN 13124-1 [22].
3.1 Experimental setup
The experiments were conducted at the Ernst-Mach-Institute
Freiburg, Germany at their test site in Efringen-Kirchen. A
shock tube with a length of approx. 50 m is used. Depending on
the overpressure of the pressure chamber and on the diameter
of the chamber (and of the membrane) several scenarios can
be simulated. Charges between 100 kg and 2500 kg TNT
at a distance of 35 m to 50 m are possible. The resulting
overpressure of the reflected pressure wave is between 5 kPa
and 260 kPa.
The test specimens are clamped in a special construction at
the end of the tube where different frames can be fixed. Here,
the standard frame according to EN 13124-1 is used.
As specified in the terms of the work, the following
measurements were done:
• Measurement of pressure-time function and displacement-
time function in the centre of the panel.
• Measurement of the strains on the surface of the external glass
sheet at two points (central and near the border).
• High speed camera recording of the experiment.
• Photographic record of the crack pattern after the tests.
3.2 Experimental parameters
In order to optimize the new experiments, a discussion and a
careful definition of several parameters was made. A review
of the already published experiments had shown that all of
them were done using a panel thickness of 7.5 mm (Table
1). Therefore, it was thought that experiments with a larger
thickness should be performed in order to enrich and extend the
data-base with these new data. Pre-stressed glass (tempered)
was also decided to be employed. One experiment is presented
here. The prestressing of the used specimen had a value of 49.52
MPa (load side) and 41.31 MPa (protected side). The air blast
waves generated in the shock tube has had a peak pressure of
about 150 kPa an impulse of 2037 Pa s and a time of duration of
0.0036 s. The decay parameter was 0.91. The temperature of the
3355
glass pane during the experiment was 10.5◦ C. The first (lowest)
eigenfrequency of the glass panels has been determined to be
approx. 90 Hz. In the experiment presented here, the interlayer
fails.
4 NUMERICAL INVESTIGATIONS
The numerical calculations are performed with EUROPLEXUS
[25], which is an explicit finite element code for non-linear
dynamic analysis. The program is developed in collaboration
between the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the
Joint Research Centre (JRC). The main focus of EUROPLEXUS
is the fluid-structure interaction in fast dynamics. A comparison
of several methods to apply blast load on structures is given by
Larcher [26]. Here, the load is applied with a load-time function
since the origin of the explosion is far away from the glass sheet.
4.1 Simulation Models for Laminated Glass
Several simulations models have been adopted for the cal-
culation of the response of laminated glass under air blast
loads. Whereas smeared models can represent the behaviour
of laminated safety glass only until the failure of the second
glass sheet (which often occurs together with the failure of the
first glass sheet), the layered element model can represent its
behaviour after this point. In addition to these models, a real 3D
model is being used next in this investigation. Not investigated
are models using 3 shell elements through the thickness and
combinations of shell and solid elements.
Layered elements with special failure criterion are used
very efficiently. After the failure of the glass, the stresses in
a fixed direction are set to zero if the strains in this direction
are greater than zero (tension). The material can still react
to compressive stress in this direction. If the stresses in the
direction normal to the direction of the fixed crack also reach
the failure limit, only compression stresses can be transmitted.
If the interlayer reaches the failure criterion of PVB, the
element is deleted. Here, a triangular linear shell element
(Discrete Kirchhoff, Mindlin) with 5 integration points through
the thickness is used for the layered model.
The simulation of the post-failure behaviour is also performed
with a smeared model (Timmel [7]). Two coincident shells are
used with two different material laws. Thickness, density and
Young’s modulus of these two shell elements are calculated in
such a way that both shell elements represent the behaviour of
the sheet before the failure. The behaviour of the sheet after the
failure of one of the glass plies is represented by one of the shell
elements (Mindlin). Therefore, the stiffness of the shell element,
which fails after the breakage of one of the glass plies, is smaller
than the stiffness of the other shell element. The implementation
of this special material law is very straightforward.
The simulation with a 3D solid model requires very fine
meshes resulting in a long calculation time. The same material
laws can be used as for the layered shell elements. Here,
hexahedral, linear full integrated elements are used.
The solid and the layered model have their different
capabilities: The solid element model can represent a non-
linear strain distribution through the thickness. Shearing of
the interlayer can be considered if enough elements for the
interlayer are used. However, smaller elements are necessary in
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3356

Table 1. Available experiments in the literature

Glass type / Panel size [m] Blast wave Charge Distance [m] Failure
plies source
Morison [5] Float glass 1.25 x 1.55 Solid explosive 60 kg TNT 12 Complete
3 - 1.52 - 3
Kranzer [23] Float glass 1.1 x 0.9 Solid explosive / 0.5/ 0.25/ 0.125 kg 5.75 / 3.7 / 2 2 glass plies
3 - 1.52 - 3 shock tube PETN
Hooper [24] Float glass 1.5 x 1.2 Solid explosive 15 kg C4 10 / 13 Complete
3 - 1.52 - 3
Morison [5] Float glass 1.25 x 1.55 Shock tube 100/500 kg TNT 31 / 65 Complete
3 - 1.52 - 3

40
order to have elements with a valid aspect ratio. The layered
shell elements can only represent a linear strain distribution
through the thickness. The shear behaviour of the interlayer 30
cannot be considered (sandwich beam theory). The size of the
elements is limited since the size of the element should not be

Stress [MPa]
smaller than the thickness of the element. 20 Bennison 89 1/s
Bennison 8 1/s
Bennison 0.7 1/s
4.2 Material Parameters Bennison 0.07 1/s
10 Iwasaki 0.033 1/s
The strain rate effect of glass is neglected. Instead, a linear Iwasaki 118 1/s

elastic material with a brittle failure is used. The material
parameters are shown in Table 2.
4.2.1 Material Experiments of Polyvinylbutyral
Experiments show that the loading time has a big influence
on the mechanical behaviour of Polyvinylbutyral (PVB), the
interlayer of the laminated glass. The long-time behaviour
of PVB is viscoelastic, while the short-time behaviour for the
loading part is closer to elasto-plastic or brittle. Unloading
experiments under high strain rates are not available. Like other
plastic materials, PVB shows a failure with large strains (appr.
200%), which indicates the need of a hyperelastic material law.
The Poisson ratio of the almost incompressible material is nearly
0.5, which can cause numerical problems if the element is not
adequately formulated.
Several experiments have been performed to get the material
data of PVB. The main parameters of interest are the Young’s
modulus and the shear modulus, both of which depend on
temperature and strain rate. The shear modulus can be
determined with classical shear experiments for the PVB
interlayer. To obtain also the influence of the relaxation time,
experiments can be done on pure PVB with oscillating loading
and different temperatures. The extrapolation of the material
behaviour with the Williams-Landel-Ferry time-temperature
superposition (Williams [27]) for the strain rates needed is
questionable.
Young’s modulus can be measured with standard tensile tests.
Such tests have been performed by Morison [5], Iwasaki [28],
and Bennison [29], (Figure 3). All tests show that the behaviour
of PVB under small strain rates is viscoelastic. This behaviour
changes when loading the PVB at higher strain rates (about
100 1/s). The material becomes more and more elastic with
a hardening, and the Young’s modulus increases dramatically.
The hardening parameter corresponds with the Young’s modulus
for small strain rates. The strain limit appears to be similar to
the static one.
Morison 74 1/s
Used material law
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Strain [%]
Figure 3. Behaviour of PVB at different strain rates (Morison
[5], Iwasaki [28], Bennison [29])
4.2.2 Material Laws for PVB
Several material models are proposed for long- and short-term
loading of PVB. A linear viscoelastic model for polymers is
described by Ferry [30].
The influence of large strains and large strain rates should be
considered for blast and impact loaded laminated glass. In a first
assumption, the behaviour of the PVB can be set to solid glassy
(elastic). This is used, e.g., by Dharani [31]. More sophisticated
material laws, e.g., the Mooney-Rivlin model are described by
Du Bois [32], Sun [9], and Van Duser [12]. The Mooney-Rivlin
model considers the hyperelastic behaviour and can be fit to
experimental data for large strains.
The cracking behaviour of PVB inside the layer can be
investigated with the through cracked tension test, which is
shown by Muralidhar [33] and Seshadri [34]. The influence of
the strain rate on the cracking process of PVB is analysed with
a similar experiment by Iwasaki [35], [28]. The influence of the
strain rate on the fracture energy could also be considered.
As mentioned above, PVB’s behaviour under higher strain
rates is more elastic with hardening than viscoelastic. In the
calculations presented an elasto-plastic material (Figure 3) is
therefore used for the PVB with the parameters shown in Table
2.
4.3 Simulation of the Support of the Window
The elastic support of the windows as in the experiments is built
up with solid elements, which use the same nodes as the shell
elements. The nodes on the top and on the bottom are fixed.
 Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3357

Table 2. Material parameters for glass and PVB

annealed tempered PVB
glass glass
Initial Young’s modulus 70000 70000 220
[N/mm2 ]
Poisson ratio [-] 0.23 0.23 0.495
Elastic limit [N/mm2 ] - - 11.0
Density [kg/m3 ] 2500 2500 1100
Failure strain [-] 0.0012 0.002 2.0
Failure stress [N/mm2 ] 84.0 140.0 28.0 Figure 5. Comparison of the crack pattern (left: layered model,
right: 3D model)

An elastic material law is used with a Young’s modulus of 3.5 ·

are done using a sliding and a fixed boundary condition. In case
106 N/m2 . The influence of the support conditions is quite high
of the fixed boundary, all boundary conditions (displacements)
as it can be shown using different boundary conditions.
are fixed at the border of the rubber strips. Therefore, the size of
5 NUMERICAL RESULTS AND COMPARISON WITH the glass sheet calculated is 1.0 x 0.8 m. In case of the sliding
THE EXPERIMENTS boundary, only the displacements in the direction of the air blast
wave are fixed at the border of the rubber strips. The size of the
5.1 Experiments without Failure of the Interlayer (Kranzer) glass sheet is 1.0 x 0.8 m.
Several calculations are performed in order to simulate the
5.2 Experiments with Failure of the Interlayer (Hooper,
experiment of Kranzer (0.125 kg explosive). The mesh of
Morison)
the glass sheet is built up with tetrahedral elements (Discrete
Kirchhoff Triangle). It can be shown (Figure 4) that the The behaviour of the PVB interlayer is much more important
smeared as well as the layered model result in a relatively in cases when the interlayer has to sustain large tension strains,
good agreement with the experimental values. The 3D solid e.g., Hooper [24]. The displacement history of the experiment
model can also describe the behaviour very well although the as well as of the numerical simulations are shown for the stand-
calculation time is much longer. off distance of 10 m in Figure 6 and for the stand-off distance
of 13 m in Figure 7. The results of the smeared model show for
0,02
both stand-off distances a behaviour which does not reproduce
0,015
the experimental data.
0,5
0,01
Experiment
Displacements [m]

Experiment after crack

0,005 0,4 layered model
3D model
0 smeared model
Displacement [m]

0 0,002 0,004 0,006 0,008 0,01 0,3

Experimental value (Kranzer)
-0,005 Layered model, element size 1.0 cm
Layered model, element size 1.25 cm
Layered model, element size 2.5 cm 0,2
-0,01
Layered model, element size 5 cm
smeared model
3D model
-0,015 0,1
Time [s]

Figure 4. Smeared model – layered model, 3D model; influence 0

of the element size (Experiment of Kranzer [23]) 0 0,005 0,01 0,015 0,02
Time [s]

A convergence study is performed for the layered model. Figure 6. Displacement history (Experiment of Hooper [24], 10
Figure 4 shows that the results are independent from the size m stand-off distance)
of the elements if the elements are small enough (smaller than
2 cm). The crack pattern (Figure 5) can also be better described The calculations with the layered model also take the failure
with smaller elements. The comparison with the experimental behaviour of the interlayer into account by using the material
cracks shows a good agreement also for the 3D solid calculation. model shown in Section 4.2.1. The model with a stand-
The circumferential cracks as well as the radial crack are well off distance of 10 m shows such a failure in the numerical
represented by the numerical results. The part in the centre of calculation at t= 9 ms. The failure in the experiment was
the sheet remains undamaged in the experiment, which is not recorded at t= 8.5 ms (from the arrival of the air blast wave at
retrieved by the calculation. the structure).
The influence of the boundary conditions is quite high. As shown in Figure 7, the displacement history of this
Whereas in all calculations presented a boundary condition experiment can be described very well with the layered shell
according to the experiment is used (elastic), two calculations elements, under the condition that the element size is small
 Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Structural Dynamics, EURODYN 2011 3358

0,4
0,2
Failure of the interlayer
(element size 2 cm)
0,3 Experiment

element size 1.25 cm

element size 2.0 cm 0,15

0,2
element size 5.0 cm
Displacement [m]

[m]
splacements [m]
smeared model

displacements
0,1
0,1
experiment G1020
3D solid model
0
layered shell model
0 0,005 0,01 0,015 0,02 0,025 0,03 0,035 0,04

0,05
-0,1
Failure of the interlayer
(element size 1.25 cm)

-0,2
Time [s]
0
0 0,005 0,01 0,015
Figure 7. Displacement history (Experiment of Hooper [24], 13 time [s]
m stand-off distance)
Figure 8. Displacement history (New experiment)
enough. The failure of the interlayer occurs earlier (t=59 ms) in
case of the 3D solid calculation. Nevertheless, the displacement
history can also be determined using the 3D solid model.
The glass loaded by the air blast wave in a stand-off distance
of 13 m fails much later during rebound. The calculations using
fine elements show a failure of the interlayer. A reason could
be that the interlayer is in full membrane strain. The behaviour
of the interlayer in this state is built up using only the interlayer
itself. In reality several splinters are glued onto the interlayer
and contribute to the structural behaviour (Figure 1, part 4). This
cannot be built up with a layered shell model with the failure Figure 9. Crack pattern for the new experiment (experiment,
implementation used for the cracks. layered model)

5.3 Experiments with Failure of the Interlayer (New Experi-

ment)
The numerical models are also used to simulate one of the
new experiments described in Section 3. The layered model
shows an acceptable result (Figure 8). In comparison to the
experiment, the numerically resulting failure of the interlayer
starts earlier. The development of the failure of the panel
is similar. The 3D model cannot adequately represent the
behaviour of the laminated glass in this case due to sveral
numerical instabilities.
The crack pattern resulting is shown in Figure 9. The failure
of the interlayer happens in the centre of the glass pane. In both
numerical models, failure starts in the centre of the panel and
not at the boundaries. In the experiment, the crack direction
is vertical, in the numerical simulation it is horizontal. The
starting point of the failure of the interlayer depends on several
parameters. Therefore, the orientation of the crack is also at
random.
6 CONCLUSIONS
This paper presents a comparison between experiments and
numerical simulations for air blast loaded laminated glass. It
has been shown that a smeared model can only be used for
cases where the interlayer is not broken. The 3D model
can represent most of the experiments but the calculations
are very time consuming. The layered model can efficiently
represent all experiments presented. In addition, the results
of a new experiment are shown and compared with numerical
simulations. The numerical investigations exclude the cases
where only one of the glass plies fails. These calculations
require a special treatment, and work is still in progress in this
area.
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