A theoretically-based novel protocol for the analytic treatment of the glass failure stresses associated with Coaxial Double Ring test method

With the aim of validating a new standardized Coaxial Double Ring testing procedure, without overpressure and with fixed geometry, an ad hoc theoretical approach has been proposed here to rearrange the laboratory outcomes accounting for the effects of the geometric non-linearities associated with such a testing configuration. By borrowing this idea, once the experimental values of the failure load have been determined, it has been possible to obtain an expression in closed form (fully defined by only two coefficients) of the maximum tensile stress (σmax) in the core of the specimen. Following this, in order to make the laboratory outcomes comparable and homogeneous, the σmax-values have been then re-scaled to a common reference condition (equibiaxial stress on a reference area, σeqbx), by means of the use of a correction coefficient (K) able to determine, under a condition of equal probability of failure, the effective area (Aeff) of the tested specimens. After being corrected to account for the effects of the stress corrosion cracking (static fatigue effect), all re-scaled data have been finally interpreted using a Weibull-type statistical distribution to determine the main fractile values of the glass strength. Doing so, despite some unavoidable approximations, this procedure furnished a highly effective means of determining the bending strength of float glass. Unlike the pure numerical approach proposed in codes and literature, which requires to correct the experimental data via FEM simulation, the rationale behind the proposed approach is in fact to elaborate the experimental data through an analytic treatment of the problem, which would greatly facilitate the interpretation of the data as well as the standardization of the testing procedure.