Structural Behaviour of Plane Glass Surface Structures Under Compression Stress - Numerical and Experimental Investigation

Oliver Englhardt & Konrad Bergmeister, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Science

In architecture and structural design the use of glass as a load bearing structural member has become more significant. In most cases the glass plates are applied with loads normal to the plate surface. The possibilities by the use of glass plates with in-plane load transfer are considered less.

The presented research subjects the use of thin, rectangular, simply supported flat glass plates under compression stress. This use demands to engage in the buckling and post-buckling behaviour of these glass surface structures. For this, structural design requirements and the verification of the ultimate limit state for such structures have to be determined for each individual case.

In order to study the buckling and post-buckling behaviour a nonlinear FEM analysis was performed.
The results of the FEM analysis were verified by experimental tests on glass plates. These experimental investigations were done by float and toughened glass. The analytical and experimental results were then used to specify the stress flows and the failure modes in the glass plates.

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