Bearing constructions in glass

Glass is a material that we en Denmark normally only see in windows or other non-bearing parts of a construction. However, in other parts of the world or even other parts of Europe, Glass has been used as a material in bearing and stabilising constructions such as fins, beams, floors and roofs, for some time now. The material gives the architect new open rooms, and the sun-light can penetrate the construction in ways never seen before.

There is no Euro Code about glass, and the closest thing we got in Denmark is called the “SBI-215 – designing glass in the building envelope”. This being the case, a lot of choices has to be made when designing constructions in glass, and one will often have to do experiments before raising a constructions with larger bearing elements in glass.

This Thesis on Bearing Construction in Glass, gives a basic knowledge of glass as material. It tells about strengths, different types of glass and where to use these – also what to be aware of in the most common bearing constructions in glass.

The thesis also contains an experimental report, containing analysis and comments on how the theory on glass works in real life. 11 experiments were carried out, on 7 simply supported glass beams of different thickness, layers and heights, and 4 connections in glass as well.