@phdthesis{4346098,
  abstract     = {{Laminated glass is for a few decades a well-known product in the construction industry for conferring safety performances to glazing units. Besides to the safeguarding of persons, laminated glass products are contributing to a variety of other safety performances, in case of accidental or attack situations leading to breakage of or crack propagation in the glass panes of a laminated glass unit. The ultimate residual load-bearing capacity of a damaged element can be resumed to one critical load-transfer mechanism, in the form of interlayer ligaments bridging the glass fragments. The characterization for design purposes of the mechanical properties of the interlayer involved in this load-transfer mechanism through the ligament appears however far from obvious. This results from specificities on the one hand of adhesive polymer components and on the other of design and control processes in the building industry. These specificities are mainly related to two aspects : firstly to the time- and temperature dependent behaviour of interlayer materials and their possible sensitivity to ageing effects, and secondly to initially vaguely defined intended fields of use, especially when non-conventional structural applications are within the considered application scope. The combination of these two aspects raises constraints for the development of experimental methods, test configurations and assessment strategies for laminated glass products. This research proposes analysis grids to get an overview of the constitutive elements of application scopes and of the possibilities and limitations for experimental assessment, with purpose to distinguish and estimate different types of border effects. These are used to evaluate the representativeness and the robustness of different test methods and test configurations, corresponding to different experimental scales. An incremental experimental approach has been developed for investigating the time- and temperature dependent performances of damaged laminated glass elements, on the basis of tests on pre-cracked specimens of small dimensions.  The assessment of the residual load-bearing capacity of damaged elements used in structural applications was the main focus of these investigations. This research highlights the need for adapting experimental assessment approaches to characterize properties of laminated glass products for design purposes with respect to their post-fracture performances, in comparison with other construction materials. It also explains specific difficulties for obtaining quantitatively meaningful results and the challenges for harmonizing experimental assessment strategies for different applications and products made with a same type of interlayer material.}},
  author       = {{Delincé, Didier}},
  isbn         = {{9789085786702}},
  keywords     = {{interlayer,ligament,polymer,laminated safety glass,performance requirements,test methods,experimental,structural glass,mechanical behaviour}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{XXVIII, 279}},
  publisher    = {{Ghent University. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture}},
  school       = {{Ghent University}},
  title        = {{Experimental approaches for assessing time and temperature dependent performances of fractured laminated safety glass}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}