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Structural Engineering and Mechanics
  Volume 15, Number 5, May 2003 , pages 495-511
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/sem.2003.15.5.495
 


Enhancement of the buckling strength of glass beams by means of lateral restraints
J. Belis, R. Van Impe, G. Lagae and W. Vanlaere

 
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
 

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