Buckling of Laminated Glass Elements in Compression

Monolithic and laminated glass beams or panes are frequently adopted as structural elements in modern and innovative architectural applications. Several aspects related to the load-carrying behavior of these new construction elements are very complex to evaluate. For example, the degradation of mechanical properties of the interlayer, the amplitude of the imperfections affecting the beams, or the presence of added external loads represent only some aspects that contribute to the complexity of evaluating the buckling response of these innovative structural components, characterized by high slenderness ratios and brittle behavior in tension. For these reasons, the buckling of laminated glass beams in compression is investigated in this paper by using a simple analytical model developed on the basis of Newmark’s theory of composite beams with deformable connections. Buckling curves are presented to illustrate how a combination of simultaneous weathering variations, initial imperfections, or particular load conditions can affect the response of compressed laminated glass beams and cause their failure.