Investigation of impact fracture behavior of automobile laminated glass by 3D discrete element method

A three-dimensional discrete element model of laminated glass plane is presented and a 3D numerical analysis code, which can simulate the impact fracture behavior of automobile laminated glass, is developed. The impact process of a single glass plane and a laminated glass plane are calculated in the elastic range by the code. Comparing its results with those calculated by the commercial FEM code LS-DYNA in the same condition, the validity of the 3D laminated glass model and the 3D discrete element method are proved. Furthermore, the impact fracture process of a single glass plane and a laminated glass plane are simulated respectively. The entire failure processes in detail are presented. By comparing the impact force and reduction of kinetic energy of impact body between those two models, the numerical method is applied to demonstrate the advantage of laminated glass in passenger's safety.