INTERNATIONAL BURCH UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND IT
Department of Architecture
ARC 611 Composite Building Materials
Prof. Dr. FuadĆatović
Prof. Dr. DženanaBijedić
Glass Based Composite Materials – Laminated Glass and its Use in
Structural Elements
Emina Zejnilović
December 2012
0
DRAFT ABSTRACT
Glass as an architectural material has gone a long way, from filling out gaps of window openings
and merely providing light to the interior to a symbol of modern architectural era. Contemporary
methods of glass production and technology, in particular strengthening of glass, exceeded the
use of glass in traditional and accustomed manner. Nowadays science is striving for all glass
structure. But can glass actually do that? We can start looking for answers in physical
characteristics of glass. Although the basic composition of soda-lime glass hasn‟t changed much
for years, when it comes to structural use of glass it is far from simple. Properties of glass are
very much different from steel or reinforced concrete that are usually used for these purposes.
Still it is more or less unknown what are the actual capabilities of glass in structural sense.
Subsequent to its characteristic, properties and behavior, principles of design must be adjusted.
There are a growing number of researches and experiments related to the use and behavior of
glass in beams, columns, floors and roofs providing relevant information and data related to glass
behavior when used in this manner.
Key words: Laminated glass, PVB, SentryGlas®Plus, strength
Contents
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
USE OF LAMINATED GLASS IN ARCHITECTURE ................................................................ 2
History of Glass Architecture and Design Principles ................................................................. 2
Glass Beams and Fins ................................................................................................................. 3
Glass pavilion Tengbom, Stockholm, Sweden ........................................................................ 3
Glass Columns ............................................................................................................................ 4
Administration Building in Saint Germain en Laye, Paris ..................................................... 4
Glass Roofs and Floors ............................................................................................................... 5
Willis Towers Skydeck, Chicago ............................................................................................ 5
Grand Canyon Skywalk .......................................................................................................... 6
Yurakucho underground station in Tokyo ............................................................................... 7
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 8
INTRODUCTION
One can make quite a fair generalization and say that in one way or another glass has a key role
in a significant number of modern works of architecture. It is the only building material that
offers much sought after qualities of translucency and transparency. When used to fully enclose
the envelopeit allows man made environment to dissolve completely intolandscape. It exposes
different sides of building‟s nature depending on whether it is day or night, summer, fall or
winter, creating different facades through reflection of the outside on its surfaces and providing
ever-changing view for the spectators – inhabitants.
It is due to these properties that have resulted in the current tendency to use glass in ever larger
sizes; and on the other hand almost total absence in use for creation of transparent supporting
structures. As much as glass is versatile when talking about its design impacts, it is its lack of
plastic behavior under stress leading to catastrophic failure, without warning, that has been the
main setback in its use as a structural material. Combination of growing demand of daring
contemporary architecture and advanced glass technology resulted in production of structural
glass with excellent strength characteristics, decreasing its vulnerability, cracking and sudden
brittle failure.
In his master theses Porter (2001) explains how there are no definite answers to question „What
is the strength of glass?‟ or „What allowable stress can be used when working with glass?‟ There
is no single, minimum strength for glass. Also, there is no comprehensive design code available
to aid in the design of structural glass members. The behavior of glass is inspected through case
studies examining its use in structural elements such as beams, columns, roofs, floors and walls.
In addition to that poor use of glass in structural elements can be assigned to inability to accept
glass as a „safe‟ material and alter the traditional notion that glass is fragile and delicate. Viewers
at the Dubai Mall feel perfectly safe standing in front of a shark swimming in a giant tank when
the only thing separating them from it is couple of centimeters of glass. Unique experience at
Chicago‟s Sears Tower balcony is based on the fact that it is actually just glass saving one from
oblivion. Is the architectural visual language so deeply carved into our minds that the trust in
glass cannot surpass car‟s windshield.
1
USE OF LAMINATED GLASS IN ARCHITECTURE
History of Glass Architecture and Design Principles
It is believed that in some forms glass has been used for 5000 years. It is the Romans who started
using it for architectural purposes, with the discovery of clear glass. Still at Roman times glass
windows appeared only in important buildings and villas. Its use for windows became common in
middle ages, though still considered to be luxury, and is more related to its use in churches and
palaces. Plate glass production was founded in France in the late 17th century. Although its excellent
properties resulted in higher demand, it was due to its cost that it was not widely used until late 18th
century. Still it was the discovery of float glass process in the 1950s that enabled production of large
sheets of glass relatively cheaply that made possible for architects to use glass in contemporary
manner.
Glass is a material which in last few decades has been used in increasing more complex and
demanding applications. It is not a material that is included in codes as structural material which
means that there are no information about how the design should be made. Ultimately, in order to
use glass as structural material, engineers must ensure safety for occupants for as long as the
building is in use. Although many researchers are working on calculating the appropriate procedure
for the use of glass ultimately we can agree that even if designed properly in respect to set
standards, glass can always break. Therefore Heyder (2006) say that 'Glass structures must be
designed redundantly, so if one glass part breaks, the rest of the structure either steel or glass parts
will still be safe, with reduced level of safety'.
There are a growing number of researches, trying to create a suitable fundamental design approach
for glass. Some of them examine the behavior and strength of different interlayers of laminated
glass, and same suggest new design methods.
In his investigation Crompton (1999) studied the case of alternative load paths through a multi-ply
beam with a constant overall width. The same strength statistical parameters were applied to each
ply in the glass member. It was shown that as the number of plies increased, the probability of
failure under a given load decreased. This means that having alternative load paths provides greater
safety in design.
Mark Porter (2001) suggested„Crack Size Design‟ method. This new method was proposed as an
alternative to the allowable stress method currently used in structural glass design. It showed that
the consideration of cracks, as advocated in the Crack Size Design method, was essential to glass
design. More importantly, it showed that even when there is no zone of tension, failure is still
possible, and describable.
Still there is no defined designed principle for glass as structural material.
2
Glass Beams and Fins
Beams made of glass have started to appear in buildings since late 1980s. Their span is limited to
the length that a single piece of glass can be manufactured, which is roughly 4.5 m for annealed
laminated glass.
Leitch (2005) claims that glass fins like glass beams are thin load bearing members made of glass.
They are vertical or sloping beams used to support facades and to help resist wind and other lateral
loads. Fins are assumed to be loaded in bending. The primary difference between fins and beams is
the inherent difficulty forming joints with fins that carry sustained bending moments, particularly
in laminated glass.
Leitch (2005) further claims that glass beams and fins should be designed to sustain minimal tensile
stress. Tensile stress promotes the gradual propagation of cracks due to microscopic flaws.
Example
Glass pavilion Tengbom, Stockholm, Sweden
This glass pavilion built in 2008 is a useful example of glass construction. It is an attachment to the
existing building, an envelope for the terrace, which was supposed to answer to investors needs for
escape from dark interior of brick and stonewall house. The glass pavilion is constructed with a post
and beam system that follows the triangular terrace. This system creates beams that increase in size
gradually from 25 cm to maximum for glass structures 40 cm and 6 meters length. The post and
beams are made of three 12 mm laminated sheets of iron free glass for maximum transparency. The
posts and beams are joined with one single bolt. The roof and wall are heat absorbent double sheet
of insulated glass. This insures a good climate in both winter and spring.
Glass Pavilion (Source, www.worldbuildingsdirectory.com)
3
Glass Columns
Columns are probably one of the most disputable aspects of design between architects and civil
engineers. Architects make great efforts to keep columns hidden so that they don‟t block views or
limit the design. Being able to design glass columns would be interesting alternative for designers.
Leitch (2005) claims that although glass performs well under compression; there is a danger of
buckling, which makes it hard to conceive a safe glass column. Buckling will result in tensile
stresses and the miniature cracks will play their role. If one part fails for whatever reason, the
remaining parts must still be able to carry the load so that the damaged element can be replaced.
The author further claims that the general design principles for glass columns are similar to those
for other not reinforced piers or walls. The applied load, however, must be carefully distributed into
the glass column in a way that localized areas of concentrated stress do not develop a brittle failure.
Leitch (2005) further claims that there are three ways in which columns can collapse. The first one
is by crumbling, slowly yielding under too big a compression load. The second is by buckling, by
sudden breaking in the middle. This case is most of the times the critical one. The third is by
breaking due to shear force; sliding along each other.
Example
Administration Building in Saint Germain en Laye, Paris
The first use of glass column in a building construction was in a glass patio of the town hall in Saint
Germain en-Laye near Paris. This new center was covered with a 700m2 glazed roof supported by
cruciform glass columns.
Each column is capable of bearing a weight of 50 tons and is made from a load bearing sheet of
laminated glass 15mm thick by 20 cm wide, held in a sandwich between two protective glass lites
of the same thickness. Designers and engineers assure that there was sufficient redundancy in the
design so that if one column should fail the steel roof system would be able to self-sustain until the
damaged column was replaced.
Example of a glass column, detail of Admin. Bldg. in Saint -German-en-Laye, Paris, 1994
pillar foot (Source, Jan Wurm, 2007) (Source, Verda Akdeniz, 2007)
4
Glass Roofs and Floors
Floors
Walking on glass floors is one of the most thrilling experiences because it creates a feeling of
walking on air. Still architects are reluctant to use it as floors due to excessive contact that can cause
surface stretches which can potentially lead to failure. In addition to this, floors have to be designed
to support concentrated and uniformly distributed pedestrian load since they are subjected to loner
load duration.
Example
Willis Towers Skydeck, Chicago
In January 2009, the Willis Tower owners began a major renovation of the Skydeck, to include the
installation of glass balconies, extending approximately 1.2 meters from the building on the 103rd
floor. The all-glass boxes allow visitors to look through the floor to the street 412 m below. The
crystal-clear, see-through floors for the balconies are made with 1.5 mm DuPont™ SentryGlas®
structural interlayers sandwiched between three 12.7mm plates of fully tempered low-iron glass.
Compared with traditional interlayers, DuPont™ SentryGlas* is five times tougher and up to 100
times stiffer, making it an ideal choice for improved structural performance in such applications.
The glass walls are connected to the beams, and to the glass floor, with stainless-steel bolts. The 3.8
cm thick glass floor (which resists up to 5 tons).
Source, http://www.thecoolist.com
5
Grand Canyon Skywalk
Besides the thrilling fact that this horse shaped bridge is 21m cantilevered from the edge of the
canyon and is located 1220m from Colorado River, what is additionally amplifying this experience
is the transparent glass deck.
3.10 m wide deck of the Skywalk has been made with four layers of Saint-Gobain Diamant low iron
glass with DuPont SentryGlas interlayer. The Skywalk glass railings were made with the same
glass as the deck, but fewer layers (two) bent to follow the walkway‟s curvature. The glass railings
are 1.57 m tall and have been designed for high wind pressures.
This bridge can withstand 71 loaded Boeing 747 aircraft or an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. Of course
mostly due to the massive iron construction and foundation, and although this is not an all glass
structure we shouldn‟t neglect the fact that the it is the glass separating viewers from the abyss. The
walkway could carry 822 people that weigh 91 kg each without overstress, but maximum
occupancy at one time is 120 people.
Recently 46 glass panels were replaced for the first time since the bridge was opened in 2007. The
new glass panes consist of five layers of glass bonded together and measuring 2 ½ inches thick.
Each panel has a thin “sacrificial” layer of glass that can be removed and replaced by hand when it
becomes scratched, instead of bringing in a large crane to replace glass. Each panel can support 100
to about 800 people, although only 60 to 120 people are allowed on the Grand Canyon Skywalk at a
time depending on the number of visitors on a given day.
Skywalk, Colorado (source, www.google.ba)
6
Glass Roofs
Leitch (2005) explains that the roof can be most distinctive part of a structure. In urban areas where
buildings continue to push up toward the sky, they look down upon the “fifth facade”. Glass roofs
seem to be conventional for horticultural purposes, but they remain elegant nonetheless. The
benefit of the glass roof is that it transmits natural daylight, but this feature also leads to undesirable
thermal gain. The development of PVB technology and glass tinting allows designers to control the
amount of light transmitted and refracted in to a structure, an ability that makes glass roofs, once
again, highly desirable.
Example
Yurakucho underground station in Tokyo
In 1996, the glass canopy of the Yurakucho underground station in Tokyo, Japan, designed by
Rafael Vinoly Architects. The projecting glass structure is 10.6 m long, 4.8 m wide and 4.8 m high
at its top. The load bearing structure consists of three parallel, cantilevering beams that are
composed of several triangular, interlocked laminated panes and Plexiglas panes which are used
because they are earthquake -safe. The roof glazing made of laminated panes i s point-fastened to
these cantilevers.
Glass Canopy of the Yurakucho Underground Station, Tokyo, 1996.
Source, www.lucas.com
7
CONCLUSION
People constantly strive for light, for airy and open spaces that give them a feeling of connection to
the nature. Furthermore, studies have suggested that increased exposure to light elevates mood and
work productivity. Through development of glass strengthening architects could finally start to
dream a little bigger and alter the place that glass has had in architectural design for centuries. Still,
strive for all glass structure is not initiated only for aesthetical or psychological reasons, but for a
simple matter of cost. Glass is a mass produced product with cheap raw materials, and is therefore
one of the cheapest fully transparent materials available.
Despite the fact glass is an ancient material that predates steel or concrete it still hasn‟t attained the
same degree of evolution or trust that its other counterparts have. It is a brittle material and
therefore needs to be looked at in an entirely different way, from steel and concrete. As any other
brittle material, failure does not occur as a consequence of stress alone, but when a critical point of
stress and crack size is reached. This means that the assessment of likely performance of a glass
piece must be highly individual. Each piece of glass would need to be inspected to assess its defects
to be able to give an estimation of maximum stress that could be applied to that particular piece of
glass.
From described structures we can see that there are successful examples of all glass structures.
Though still in small scale they are important lessons for researchers on how glass behaves when
used as structural element and stand as a proof that all glass structures are possible. Glass will
always be a desirable commodity and engineers and architects will aim to respond to demands of
modern architectural era in which glass has an important role. Certainly, with development of more
secure, stronger glass, technology, and design principles it is without a doubt that all glass
structures is what awaits for us in the future.
