The major drawback of adhesively bonding glass to conventional concrete is the brittle nature of both materials, i.e. the bonded substrates. However, with the development of fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) and FR ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), toughness and ductility of this type of substrate is significantly enhanced. The possibility to develop structurally bonded glass-to-concrete applications using FRC and FR UHPC is unlocked as such. FR (UHP) concrete steps bonded between glass stringers, glass balustrades bonded to a FR (UHP) concrete slab, sandwich panels consisting of a FR (UHP) concrete core and glass faces, T-beams consisting of a FR (UHP) concrete flange and glass web are just a few of such promising applications. In this research, the aim is to demonstrate the potential of these structurally bonded glass-to-concrete applications considering real-world design situations. By means of geometrically and material nonlinear finite element (FE) analyses, the mechanical performance of applications using (annealed and thermally toughened) laminated glass with structural pvb-interlayers, steel fibre-reinforced ultra-high performance concrete and two-component epoxies, is investigated. For the FR (UHP) concrete, an elastic-plastic material model is derived from experimental tests and implemented in the FE model. As an environmentally conscious solution, a cement-free FR UHPC with a carbon footprint less than 20% of conventional UHPC is investigated. This paper confirms the potential of developing structurally bonded glass-to-concrete applications for real-world design situations. The production of a large-scale demonstrator afterwards validates the transformative potential of the structurally bonded glass-to-concrete concept in terms of increased structural efficiency and aesthetic appearance, and provides a path towards sustainable, high-performing hybrid glass-concrete structures.
Bert Van Lancker
Numerical investigation of bonded glass-to-concrete applications subjected to real-world design situations
Company: Ghent University, Belgium
About the speaker:
In 2020, Bert finished his PhD on two-sided bonded glass-steel façade units under supervision of Prof. Jan Belis (Ghent University). Since then he is technical director of Vitroplena, a design and engineering office for structural glass applications located in Belgium. He is also part-time postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University.