Analysis of impact fracture behavior of laminated glass of bi-layer type using discrete element method

This paper analyzes the impact fractures of a laminated glass with interlayered polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and a bi-layer laminated glass with PVB on one side, using the discrete element method (DEM). A laminated glass beam and a bi-layer laminated glass beam with both ends fixed are analyzed when impacted at the center by a cylindrical rigid body moving with a certain initial velocity. For the bilayer laminated glass beam, two analytical models are selected where the impact surfaces are the glass and PVB sheets. The DEM is applied to simulate the impact fracture behavior of three kinds of beam until penetration. From the numerical results, it is shown that the bi-layer type, laminated type and reverse bi-layer type have the maximal impact force in descending order. But penetration energies of laminated type and bi-layer type are similar. Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that the bi-layer laminated glass is safer than the laminated glass as the windscreen of automobiles.