Keywords: glass, laminated, multi-layered, membrane, plate, shell, link.

Main objective of this paper is to look into the structural performance of laminated glass and multi-layered laminated glass plate subjected to pressure loading by numerical method. Experimental results of laminated glass plates and multi-layered laminated glass plates are obtained from the work of Vallabhan et al [4] and Ellis and Beak [2] and  [3] as reference model in our numerical simulation. A modelling technique using Shell and Link elements is presented to simulate the structural response of laminated glass plate. The modelling technique is also capable of modelling structural response of multi-layered laminated glass plate by expanding the model as required.

Numerical results obtained from the simulation are verified against the test results. It is shown that the model is capable of simulating the structural response of laminated glass plate and multi-layered laminated glass plate reasonably well. Finally stress distribution diagram of laminated glass and multi- layered laminated glass are compared against their counterpart of monolithic glass plate with the same dimensions and nominal glass thickness.

From the stress distribution analysis, it is discovered that the size of the glass plate has significant effect towards the structural performance of the laminated glass plate and multi- layered laminated glass plate. The larger the size is for the glass plate, the laminated glass will benefit from membrane effect as deformation occurs. Duser et al [1] has also mentioned their observation of membrane effect in laminated glass plate. For multi-layered laminated glass, the same principal applies but with substantial combined thickness of glass plate, it might behave more like monolithic glass plate instead.

1

Duser, A.V., Jagota, A., Bennison, S.J., "Analysis of glass/polyvinyl butyral laminates subjected to uniform pressure", J. of Engrg. Mech., 125(4), pp.435-442, 1999. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9399(1999)125:4(435)

2

Ellis, B.R., Beak, M., "Static testing of glazing for Property Services Agency", Research report for PSA, 1991.

3

Ellis, B.R., Beak, M., "Static testing of glazing Phase II", Research report for PSA, 1992.

4

Vallabhan, C.V.G., Das, Y.C., Magdi. M., Asik, M., Bailey, J.R., "Analysis of laminated glass units", J. Struct. Engrg. , ASCE, 119(5), pp.1572-1585, 1993. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9445(1993)119:5(1572)

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