Design buckling curves for glass columns and beams

Structural glass is frequently used in modern buildings, and numerous scientific contributions in the literature confirm the great interest from designers and researchers in this innovative construction material. However, whereas for the verification of load-carrying elements composed of traditional materials, analytical procedures and consolidated verification methods are available in standards, this is not the case for glass. In this paper a Eurocode-based approach is proposed for the buckling verification of glass columns and beams. Based on experimental and numerical results from the literature, as well as on further simulations performed in Abaqus and earlier literature contributions, calibrated buckling curves are proposed for their stability check and extended to laminated glass beams and columns composed of up to three glass layers. The same verification approach was adopted by the Italian technical document CNR-DT210/2013. The advantage of the proposed curves is that they are calibrated to take into account, by means of equivalent geometrical imperfections, the effects of possible defects, load/boundary eccentricities and residual stresses. At the same time, by means of equivalent thickness formulations discussed in recent contributions, they can be used for the verification of monolithic or laminated elements composed of various glass types.