Frequency Response of Laminated Glass Elements: Analytical Modeling and Effective Thickness

Abstract

Laminated glass elements are sandwich structures where the glass presents linearelastic behavior, whereas the polymer interlayer is, in general, a linearviscoelastic material. Several analytical models have been proposed since the 1950s to determine the response of laminated glass elements to both frequency and thermal conditions. In this paper, it is proved that Ross, Kerwin, and Ungar's model can be considered as a particular case of the Mead and Markus model when the exponential decay rate per unit length is neglected. The predictions of these models are compared with those obtained from operational modal tests carried out on a laminated glass beam at different temperatures. Finally, a new effective thickness for the dynamic behavior of laminated glass beams, which allows the determination of the dynamic response using a simple monolithic elastic model, is proposed.