A numerical model on PVB laminated windshield subjected to headform low-speed impact

Abstract

Polyvinyl butyral (PVB) laminated windshield is one of the most important components in automotive to protect vulnerable road users. First, a windshield finite element (FE) model is set up using a piece of interlayer (PVB) sandwiched by two glass layers. Four parameters which have an critical impact on the simulation results, i.e. glass Young's modulus, glass plastic failure strain, PVB stress-strain curve and boundary condition, are suggested to measure the influence on the windshield model. Each windshield model is impacted by a standard headform impactor at the speed of 8m/s based on the LS-DYNA platform and the results are compared with the dynamic experiments of PVB laminated windshield under headform impact to find the most accurate FE model. Furthermore, the most accurate FE windshield model is compacted by the standard headform impactor on various impact velocities (6.6m/s-11.2m/s), angles (60°-90°) compared with the parametric dynamic experiments of PVB laminated windshield to verify the windshield finite element model. This paper provides a useful finite element model of windshield for further systematically numerical studies based on the finite element method to explore the ability of the energy absorption and safety design of PVB laminated windshield. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.