Numerical model of elastic laminated glass beams under finite strain

TL;DR

This paper presents an efficient finite element model for simulating the elastic response of laminated glass beams under finite strain, capturing complex heterogenous behavior with accuracy comparable to detailed 2D analyses.

Contribution

It introduces a layer-wise finite element approach based on refined plate theory and finite-strain shear deformation, enabling reliable and accurate laminated glass beam simulations.

Findings

Model predictions agree with experimental data

Comparable accuracy to 2D finite element analyses

Provides a basis for incorporating advanced interlayer models

Abstract

Laminated glass structures are formed by stiff layers of glass connected with a compliant plastic interlayer. Due to their slenderness and heterogeneity, they exhibit a complex mechanical response that is difficult to capture by single-layer models even in the elastic range. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an efficient and reliable finite element approach to the simulation of the immediate response of laminated glass beams. It proceeds from a refined plate theory due to Mau (1973), as we treat each layer independently and enforce the compatibility by the Lagrange multipliers. At the layer level, we adopt the finite-strain shear deformable formulation of Reissner (1972) and the numerical framework by Ibrahimbegovi\'{c} and Frey (1993). The resulting system is solved by the Newton method with consistent linearization. By comparing the model predictions against available experimental data, analytical methods and two-dimensional finite element simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed formulation is reliable and provides accuracy comparable to the detailed two-dimensional finite element analyzes. As such, it offers a convenient basis to incorporate more refined constitutive description of the interlayer.