Influence of the negative phase and support flexibility on the blast response of laminated glass panels

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive numerical procedure to treat the blast response of laminated glass (LG) panels and investigates the effects of two important parameters: the negative phase of the blast loading and support flexibility on the blast performance of LG. The influence of the negative phase is examined on the blast response of LG panels fixed to rigid and flexible supports. Findings indicate that the negative phase has negligible impact on the centre deflection, energy absorption and the support reactions of LG panels with rigid supports while it has significant impact on those with flexible supports. The support flexibility is varied by changing the cross-section dimensions of the steel cables used with the flexible supports. Results show that blast performance of flexible facades can be further improved by using steel cables with smaller cross-sections as they increase the energy absorption while reducing reaction forces at the steel cables. Flexible supports seem to delay the failure of LG panels which are more likely to fail after dissipation of the blast pressure and hence reduce the injuries occurring from direct blast pressure and the broken glass fragments. The new information generated in this paper will therefore encourage engineers to come up with innovative flexible façade systems which will minimise the hazards from potential near field explosions.