Glazing System Blast Vulnerability Assessment

Glazing System Blast Vulnerability Assessment

Khurasaniyah, KSA

ASI’s client wanted to ensure the safety of the glass façade of a new office building in Khurasaniyah, Saudi Arabia. Based on hazard analysis, it was estimated that the glass façade of the building might be subjected to pressures as high as 0.4 psi.

ASI was tasked with investigating the behavior of glass panels for the windows and doors when subjected to the effect of blast loading. Two types of glass panels were investigated: single-layer glass panels and three-layer laminated glass panels with an intermediate PVB layer.

The random nature of the cracks generated in glass required using an element mesh with a random nature. Therefore, the Voronoi diagram (Delaunay triangulation) was used for meshing the glass. The support conditions for the doors and the windows were carefully taken into consideration in the analysis.