Reinforced glass supports

Objectives and work programme

Glass supports are largely designed as multi-layered structures composed of laminated glass panes with a rectangular cross section. The technical requirements for the joints of the individual components and the redundancy in the support structure have still not been resolved to any real degree of satisfaction, due to the brittleness of the glass material. Developing reinforced glass supports is therefore intended to offer an innovative solution to the requirements stated above as a classic composite material with a combination of glass and steel suitable for the application.

The innovative aspect of the reinforced glass supports is the increase in load-bearing capacity by way of external pre-stressing of the reinforcement. In doing so, the glass material can be used as a load-bearing element. The required redundancy of construction elements can be drastically improved by the reinforcing composite material between the brittle glass and the ductile steel. This therefore guarantees the required residual load-bearing capacity of the glass, without using any additional sacrificial layers, which are not considered when demonstrating the load-bearing capacity.

The objective of the research project is to develop a modular glass support system with reinforcement that can be used in a diverse range of applications. To do this, the load introduction from the reinforcement to the glass edge and the mechanical behaviour of glass supports with various types of reinforcement structures is investigated. In addition to the glass structure selection, a reinforcement material is selected and the material behaviour in the bond is analysed. The structural design possibilities found are subsequently developed further by way of load-bearing capacity testing and numerical calculations, so that a prototype can be presented at the end of the project.

Partners

Thiele Glas Werk GmbH, Wermsdorf,
KL-megla GmbH, Eitorf.