SCALING EFFECTS ON POST-FAILURE RESPONSES OF LAMINATED GLASS PLATES SUBJECTED TO OUT-OF-PLANE UNIFORM PRESSURE

The need for architectural transparency increased the use of glass as structural and non-structural elements (e.g., beams, panels, plates, etc.). Moreover, when canopy and façade panels are employed, the supports are generally realized using small point-fixing steel hinges, which enhance the transparency of the elements bringing non-negligible structural problems. When these elements are employed, different glass plies are coupled together with a polymeric interlayer. The glass plies are subjected to a thermal process to improve their reliability and safety obtaining two different glass typologies: heat-strengthened and thermally toughened laminated glass plates. While in the elastic phase, both glasses perform the same way, the post-breakage response is different due to the very different fragmentations of the ply. In this study, two full-scale laminated glass (LG) plates, with a global size (L×H) of 4000 mm × 2085 mm, and 2-ply 10 mm thick glass plies coupled with one layer of 1.52 mm thick SentryGlas (SG) interlayer, were investigated under uniform pressure. Different glass plies - heat-strengthened and thermally toughened, damage configurations in glass ply, and size effects were considered. The mechanical response of LG plates was analysed to assess their elastic and post-failure behavior. The findings demonstrate that: (i) the post-failure behavior of LG plates was significantly influenced by the breakage of thermally-toughened glass; (ii) size effects have a great influence on the behavior of LG plates; This effect is particularly pronounced when the fracture occurs in the large-sized LG plate.