Modeling via peridynamics for crack propagation in laminated glass under fire

Abstract

Despite laminated glass is widely used in building construction, its susceptibility to cracking and collapsing during an accidental fire can intensify fire propagation, leading to substantial casualties and economic losses. In this work, we developed a meshfree framework for modeling thermomechanical cracking of laminated glass via peridynamic (PD) theory. First, to overcome the incomplete input experimental data for implementing thermal boundary conditions, we proposed both the uniform and non-uniform temperature field strategies. Second, PD interface model and the stochastic distribution of defects were implemented within this framework. Third, the challenging problem of crack path selection in thermally loaded borosilicate/steel bi-material beams was studied to validate the feasibility of the proposed model. It is demonstrated that the proposed framework can capture the temperature history and crack features of laminated glass under fire, showing great consistency with experimental results. Our findings show that with the decrease of the glass strength or the increase of the defect content, more islands form in the central region of the glazing, implying higher risks of glass fall-out in fire conditions. This model constitutes a promising tool for predicting the fire performance of laminated glass and contributes to designing safer engineering structures.