Experimental investigation on the radial and circular crack propagation of PVB laminated glass subject to dynamic out-of-plane loading

• The initiation and propagation of in-plane radial and circular cracks are studied.
• Effects of impact velocity and the interlayer thickness are parametrically studied.
• The radial crack initiates early and propagates faster than the circular crack.
• A Weibull statistical model on the macroscopic crack pattern is suggested.

In this paper, a drop-weight combined with high-speed photography devices are set up to conduct out-of-plane dynamic loading experiments. Velocity time history curves along with the force–time history curves of both radial and circular crack are recorded and analyzed to understand the crack initiation and propagation mechanism. Two dominant factors in cracking, i.e. impact velocity and PVB (Polyvinyl Butyral) thickness are parametrically studied. In addition, a Weibull statistical model on the macroscopic crack pattern is suggested based on considerable quantities of repeated experiments. Results may shed lights on the cracking behaviors in brittle material sandwiched by a ductile layer.