Strength and redundancy of glass beams

Glass is a material used since ancient times. The main features always known about it are the transparency and the brittleness. For the first reason glass is requested in the design field but at the same time for the second reason it is seen as a challenging material. The focus of this research is the study of the behaviour of hybrid glass elements with the aim to maintain as much as possible the transparency and to reduce the fragility. The coupling of glass with additive materials able to ensure an adequate tensile strength is the way to guarantee a post-critical phase to the structural glass elements. This experimental research focuses on steel fiber reinforced glass beams. The adhesives that constitute the bonding are object of study too, in order to investigate the adhesion issue. A way to design the bonding in a good manner is obtained with the formulation of two relations that permit to determine the optimal length of the bonding and the adhesion strength. The experimental campaign on glass beams consists of four point bending tests on the reinforced elements. These hybrid beams are able to conserve the transparency and to ensure a post-critical phase of the elements.