Structural stability is a key design requirement for the laminated glass (LG) elements subjected to in-plane compressive loads. The brittle behaviour of glass combined with the temperature-dependent ductile behaviour of polymeric interlayers jointly create a composite cross-section, whose resistance can be defined by a homogenized model accounting for both components.
The latter considers layered cross-section geometry and corresponding material characteristics for each layer, to carry out the effective stiffness computation. This paper presents the finite element models integrating the proposed homogenized material properties that can be used to predict the critical buckling load for LG elements. We develop numerical models for both beams and shells, which were initially proposed for the simulation of instability problems for homogeneous structures.
This approach has proven suitable for LG structures to compute the critical load. We show that computed results compare quite well against experimental results available in the literature. Moreover, the critical force predictions for different cross-sections confirm the difference between critical loads computed for different interlayers.
The critical force for LG elements under in-plane loading is simulated using a combination of two approaches: varying beam and shell elements in numerical analysis, and employing two different methods for cross-section homogenization. The accuracy of the predictions is evaluated by comparing the results with experimental data, highlighting both the precision and limitations of the approach.
