Exploring multi-span reinforced glass beams : experiments and numerical modeling

Glass is not only used passively to cover the façades, but is increasingly applied in a structural way. Especially in the field of structural glass beams, the scientific community has developed and tested a lot of 'hybrid' glass beam concepts aiming at safe failure behavior characterized by sufficient post-fracture capacity and ductility. A promising concept is the 'reinforced laminated glass beam' in which stainless steel reinforcement is incorporated in the glass laminate. A multitude of investigations has proven the concept to be successful in statically determinate systems. However, today's buildings also require structural safety on system level. Therefore, the feasibility of applying reinforced glass beams in statically indeterminate systems was investigated. A statically indeterminate test set-up with two spans was built to perform bending tests on two-sided reinforced glass beams. Two different reinforcement percentages were tested at two different temperatures. All series illustrated satisfying load-carrying behavior with significant post-fracture strength and ducitlity. To further analyze the influence of other geometrical and material parameters, 3D high-performing numerical models were developed in Abacus(R). In these models, the geometry and material properties of the constituents making up the beam are modeled taking into account experimental data. Crucial in these models is the implementation of glass fracture. Therefore a cracking model for concrete (Brittle Cracking) was callibrated to simulate glass fracture. This paper presents experimental and numerical research of one test series, in which a validated numerical model is used to give insight into the effect of geometrical tolerances and varying support stiffness on the overall load-carrying behavior of these reinforced glass beams