Evaluation of Behaviours of Laminated Glass

Visual reflection of building facades and other load bearing structures, which now are part of modern architecture, is reason why it is important to investigate in more detail the reliability of laminated glass for civil structures. Particularly laminated glass has become one of the trend materials, example Apple© stores, capable for load carrying capacity and transparent appearance. Mechanically glass has high mechanical strength and relatively medium density, however sudden brittle failure like concrete or other ceramics expose relatively high conservatism in design practice of glass structures. This should be changed as consumers requirements evolves without a safe and reliable design methodology and corresponding building standards. A design methodology for glass and glass laminates should be rapidly developed and included as chapter in Eurocode. This paper presents initial experimental investigation of simple glass sheets and laminated glass samples behaviour in 4 - point bending test. The aim of current research is to investigate laminated glass characteristic values and verify obtained experimental results with finite element method for glass and EVA material in line with future European Structural Design of Glass Components