Flying glass

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Flying glass refers to pieces of broken glass (typically from a window) which become sharp missiles projected by the force which broke the glass, along with any strain energy due to tempering. They often cause cut-type injuries.

Flying glass resulting from an explosion poses a significant risk in the event; up to 85% of injuries from an explosion are due to flying glass. [1] Severity of injury from flying glass depends on the peak overpressure of the blast. [2] Potential for injury has been derived from both experiments and theoretical modeling of blast effects. Among the important features in models of flying glass are breaking pressure, velocity and distribution of flying fragments, fragment shape, and the distance traveled until impact. [3] Mitigation strategies, such as the use of window glazing [4] or laminated glass [5] can reduce flying glass injuries.

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References

  1. Mazzolani, Federico M. (2010). Urban Habitat Constructions Under Catastrophic Events: Proceedings of the COST C26 Action Final Conference. CRC Press. pp. 133–139. ISBN   9780203833636 . Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  2. Petty, Stephen E. (2013). Forensic Engineering: Damage Assessments for Residential and Commercial Structures. CRC Press. p. 688. ISBN   9781439899724 . Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  3. Lees, Frank (2005). Lees' Loss Prevention in the Process Industries: Hazard Identification, Assessment and Control. Butterworth-Heinemann. pp. 17/233–17/243. ISBN   9780080489339 . Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  4. Hossein, Ataei; Anderson, James C. (2012). "Mitigating the Injuries from Flying Glass Due to Air Blast". Forensic Engineering 2012: 133–142. doi:10.1061/9780784412640.015. ISBN   9780784412640.
  5. Hooper, P. A.; Sukhram, R. A. M.; Blackman, B. R. K.; Dear, J. P. (15 March 2012). "On the blast resistance of laminated glass". International Journal of Solids and Structures. 49 (6): 899–918. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsolstr.2011.12.008 . hdl: 10044/1/13982 .