The goal of this thesis is to explore glass as a structural material, find its advantages and disadvantages, and to open new possibilities for structural use of glass. The purpose of the thesis was to perform numerical analysis of prestressed glass beam alongside with experimental testing of the beam. Unfortunately, the experimental tests of a full-size beam proved themselves as too expensive and time consuming for the financial and time constraints of this thesis. Therefore, I decided to perform only side experimental tests, where the glass bonding interlayers, glass fibres and compressive tests of glass panels were conducted. The thesis is prepared with the intention to provide preliminary information for further potential researchers who are going to continue the experimental implementation and analysis of the full-scale prestressed glass beam. The prestressed glass beam was numerically modelled and studied with program Abaqus, which offered detailed understanding of stresses and strains development throughout the beam. During the development phase of the numerical modelling, the idea was to find the upper load bearing capacity of the glass beam. When designing with structural glass, special consideration is needed around local stress concentration because of its brittle nature. Glass is a material that offers certain advantages over other conventional construction materials such as high compressive strength and linear behaviour. Unfortunately, glass has several weaknesses such as fragility and cost, which I believe are the important factors which limit the more widespread use of glass as a structural material.
|
