Glass-Steel Beams as Structural Members of Façades

Abstract

Glass used in structural applications enables a higher level of transparency in façades. However, attention should be paid to the material specific properties, such as brittleness and its incapability of plastic deformation. Laminated glass beams may improve several properties due to the elastic behaviour of the interlayer material. Contrary to laminated panes, which are subject to plate bending, laminated beams lose all their bearing capacity in case all individual plies are broken. The presented hybrid beams that are composed of glass and steel and bonded together with a transparent acrylate adhesive are developed to improve the post-breakage performance of transparent beams. Hybrid beams, therefore, offer a variety of potential applications in façades and glass structures. Within this research, a number of hybrid beams with different cross sections and combinations of glass and steel were tested. The results confirm a better structural behaviour of hybrid beams in comparison with conventional laminated glass beams.