Modeling and characterization of dynamic failure of borosilicate glass under compression/shear loading

In this paper, we study the impact-induced dynamic failure of a borosilicate glass block using an integrated experimental/analytical approach. Previous experimental studies on dynamic failure of borosilicate glass have been reported by Nie et al. [Nie X, Chen WW, Sun X, Templeton DW. Dynamic failure of borosilicate glass under compression/shear loading – experiments. J Am Ceram Soc, in press.] using the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique. The damage growth patterns and stress histories have been reported for various glass specimen designs. In this study, we propose to use a continuum damage mechanics (CDM)-based constitutive model to describe the initial failure and subsequent stiffness reduction of glass. Explicit finite element analyses are used to simulate the glass specimen impact event. A maximum shear stress-based damage evolution law is used in describing the glass damage process under combined compression/shear loading. The impact test results are used in quantifying the critical shear stress for the borosilicate glass under examination. It is shown that with only two modeling parameters, reasonably good comparisons between the predicted and the experimentally measured failure maps can be obtained for various glass sample geometries. Comparisons between the predicted stress histories for different sample designs are also used as model validations.