Post-cracking Behaviour of Reinforced Glass Beams

The study of the structural behaviour of some particular glass beams is presented. An experimental investigation was performed on glass beams reinforced with GFRP sheets and pultruded profiles. Tested beams are formed by float glass sheet glued between them and with the reinforcement using common structural resins. To evaluate the influence of the reinforcement, other series of beams were constructed coupling glass and steel fibres or glass and steel profile. The aim was to increase tensile resistance and solve the problem of the brightly of the glass and the great dispersion of the tensile strength values. In all the experiments the beams showed residual resistance and a great value of the ratio between final failure displacement and initial failure displacement which is indicative of a ductile behaviour. The behaviour of these beams was studied developing analytical models and numerical models which describe the elastic phase and the post-cracking phase too.