Abstract

Climate change research predicts that the occurrence of high wind speed (Category 4 or higher) storms could increase by up to 59% globally by late this century. Such wind speeds, when combined with windborne debris can result in dangerous overloads of building façades, increasing the risk of injury to occupants and the public in the surrounding area. Current industry practice for evaluating the impact of windborne debris is physical testing, which can be costly and time intensive for system development while also being unable to capture the combined effects of wind action and debris impact. Simulation is capable of quickly iterating through multiple design variables while also reducing variation found in physical tests. Combining the reduced development time and cost, with the ability of the simulation to capture both wind and debris actions on the façade makes simulation an attractive option for the design process. LS-Dyna has been used widely to simulate windshield impacts in the automotive sector. The authors have previously published a paper characterising a laminated glass pane to simulate the delamination and fragmentation response of glass in a blast event. In this study, a computational model in LS-Dyna was developed and correlated with physical testing of laminated safety glass panes subjected to blast loads. In order to generate an accurate model, validation of the component parts including PVB, adhesion and glass that make up the laminated safety glass was completed. This model was compared to tested samples undergoing windborne debris impact as per AS1170.2:2011 “Part 2: Wind Actions” which includes a provision for test requirements by building type and geographical location. By altering mesh density and patterns to examine crack distribution, a model has been developed to simulate impact from windborne debris which demonstrated good correlation. This highlights the applicability of simulation for impact testing and provides examples of potential applications in façade design.