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Structural Engineering and Mechanics Volume 15, Number 5, May 2003, pages 495-511 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12989/sem.2003.15.5.495 |
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Enhancement of the buckling strength of glass beams by means of lateral restraints |
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J. Belis, R. Van Impe, G. Lagae and W. Vanlaere
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| Abstract | ||
| New material applications and transparency are desired by contemporary architects. Its superb transparency and high strength make glass a very suitable building material -in spite of its brittleness- even for primary load bearing structures. Currently we will focus on load bearing glass beams, subjected to different loading types. Since glass beams have a very slender, rectangular cross section, they are sensitive to lateral torsional buckling. Glass beams fail under a critical buckling load at stresses that lie far below the theoretical simple bending strength, due to the complex combination of torsion and out-of-plane bending, which characterises the instability phenomenon. The critical load can be increased considerably by preventing the upper rim from moving out of the beam | ||
| Key Words | ||
| glass beams; buckling strength; load bearing capacity; lateral torsional buckling; lateral restraints. | ||
| Address | ||
| Laboratory for Research on Structural Models, Department of Structural Engineering, Ghent University, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 904, B-9052 Gent-Zwijnaarde, Belgium | ||