Dynamics of window glass fracture in explosions

Technical Report · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/658184· OSTI ID:658184

Beauchamp, E K; Matalucci, R V

An exploratory study was conducted under the Architectural Surety Program to examine the possibility of modifying fracture of glass in the shock-wave environment associated with terrorist bombings. The intent was to explore strategies to reduce the number and severity of injuries resulting from those attacks. The study consisted of a series of three experiments at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center (EMRTC) of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology at Socorro, NM, in which annealed and tempered glass sheets were exposed to blast waves at several different levels of overpressure and specific impulse. A preliminary assessment of the response of tempered glass to the blast environment suggested that inducing early failure would result in lowering fragment velocity as well as reducing the loading from the window to the structure. To test that possibility, two different and novel procedures (indentation flaws and spot annealing) were used to reduce the failure strength of the tempered glass while maintaining its ability to fracture into small cube-shaped fragments. Each experiment involved a comparison of the performance of four sheets of glass with different treatments.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 658184
• Report Number(s): SAND--98-0598; ON: DE98005265; BR: DP0302020
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
BLAST EFFECTS
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
FRAGMENTATION
GLASS
INJURIES
MITIGATION
SABOTAGE
WINDOWS