Transparent Façade Solutions with Bonded Glass-Steel Beams

The combination of steel and glass used as a hybrid structural element such as a mullion or transom generates a higher level of transparency in facades. In spite of its positive attributes, the brittleness and the lack of plastic deformation of glass increase the risk of a spontaneous failure and the entire loss of load-bearing capacity after breakage of each glass panes independently of the glass type.

However, this typically results in over-design with high safety factors if laminated glass beams are used. The combination of glass beams with the ductile material steel provides an optimised load- bearing capacity with increased robustness. In a modified four-point bending test the load-bearing behaviour of various cross sections of hybrid beams was examined. The test results demonstrated a considerably improved structural and post-breakage behaviour of the hybrid beams compared to conventional glass beams.