Modelling the response of a laminated tempered glass for different configurations of damage by a rigid body spring model

The mechanical response of a plate made of a three layers laminated tempered glass (LG) with different damage configurations has been investigated and modelled by a rigid body-spring numerical approach. Experiments showed that the mechanical contribution of one or more fractured glass plies cannot be disregarded when evaluating the global stiffness of a damaged LG plate, as well as with regard to the effective stress distribution in the undamaged plies. A micro-scale analysis was performed by means of an in-plane Rigid Body-Spring Model (RBSM) to study the membrane response of a single fractured layer when subjected to a simple compression loading. Then, a macro-scale approach was adopted for modelling the out-of plane response, in which the actual distribution of the broken fragments was neglected, through a phenomenological constitutive law that assumes the response at the sectional level. The two step procedure, with the proposed phenomenological laws adopted for the damaged layers, proved to be effective in predicting the different experimental results of the three point bending tests on partially damaged laminated plates.