Allowable Bending Stress for Glass Beams: Experiments and Statistical Analysis

A fundamental understanding of resisting and collapse mechanisms is required to ensure the structural safety of primary load-bearing elements, like columns and beams. The present research, in this regard, experimentally investigates the in-plane bending and Lateral-Torsional Buckling (LTB) response of tempered glass beams, analyzing key factors such as the evolution of bending stress, the critical buckling moment, and the corresponding failure mode for a total of 52 original samples. The study focuses on specimens with small slenderness (less than 1.2), revealing that well-defined failure mechanisms can be detected when varying rhis ratio. The stress ratio ( $$\:\:\gamma\:\:=\:0.57\:$$ ) is crucial in determining the bending behaviour, with high slenderness following Euler’s buckling curve for beams in LTB, but medium- or low-sleenderness specimens exhibiting an inelastic response, with a sudden and brittle collapse mechanism which diverges from Euler’s curve, indicating a critical condition for safety. The study identifies three slenderness ratios satisfying specific limits. Statistical analysis is applied to the collected results, revealing that the allowable stress curve begins on the y-axis with an approximate reduction factor of 0.55 and converges with Euler’s curve at high slenderness values. As shown, the strategy can be used to correlate the failure type to the slenderness. It could hence provide practical support for improving the safety and efficiency levels of structural glass members. Besides, a more extensive database will be required for a sound and robust calibration of key parameters.