Structural Use of Glass in Hybrid Elements: Steel-Glass-Beams, Glass-GFRP-Plates

Frank Wellershoff, Gerhard Sedlacek

The development of the materials glass and GFRP with higher strength and the progress in the gluing technology opens opportunities to develop new hybrid elements for innovative architectural ideas. Different possible adhesives under shear load with different temperatures and different shear rates were tested. With the information gained hybrid elements with glass as a load carrying component were designed and tested.

One of the hybrid element tested is a steel-glass-beam for which steel was used for the flanges and glass for the webs, resulting in a high load carrying capacity and an astonishing filigree design. Beams of this kind could be used in public buildings to carry roof or facade loads. Other hybrid elements tested were Glass-GFRP-Plates. These sandwiches consist of a GFRP-grid as a core and two glued heat strengthened glass plates as flanges. These elements can be used for walls or roof plates and enable the architect to play with the sun-light effect under different angles.

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