Blast performance of point-supported laminated glass panes with non-rigid supports

According to the current state-of-practice, point-supported glazing systems can be supported by different structures with varying levels of flexibility. This paper presents results from numerical studies on the blast performance of frameless, point-supported Laminated Glass (LG) panes, with special consideration of the effects of support flexibility on the blast performance of the panes. Capacity Pressure-Duration (P-D) curves, maximum reaction forces, and maximum displacements of point-supported LG panes are derived for 36 unique point-supported LG panes subjected to nearly 80 different blast scenarios and evaluated at four limit states ranging from initial cracking to ultimate failure. Obtained results indicate that, generally, as the support stiffness decreases, initial cracking capacity of the point-supported LG panes increases. However, this is not the case in other limit states. For example, in the case of ultimate failure performance criteria, support flexibility has detrimental effects; as the support stiffness decreases, ultimate capacity of the point-supported LG panes also decreases. Therefore, neglecting the support flexibility is not necessarily a conservative assumption. This affirms the importance of considering support flexibility in the design of blast resistant glazing systems. Additionally, under the same blast loading, as the support stiffness decreases, the maximum support reaction tends to decrease and the maximum displacement of the pane tends to increase. It is important to note that these correlations may not agree in design cases targeting specific limit states.