FEM, DEM and FDEM applications on impact fracture of glass and laminated glass – A revie

Structural glass components are prevalently used in engineering. Due to the brittle nature, glass or laminated glass may fracture during an impact action, and the subsequent flying fragments may spread over a wide range, resulting in human injuries and asset losses. In this article, the authors aimed at providing a comprehensive review concerning the numerical applications on the impact fracture of glass and laminated glass, giving emphasis to the literatures published in the last two decades. Relevant numerical applications employing the finite element method (including element deletion method, extended finite element method and some other continuum-based approaches), discrete element method and combined finite-discrete element method were reviewed in-depth, and features of the simulations were summarised. Discussions on the impact fracture characteristics from different computational approaches were performed. Insights into the accuracy, efficiency, ease of implementation and range of applicability were also provided. This review is meant for the rapid and beneficial understanding towards the impact fracture mechanism of glass and laminated glass.