Stability analysis of glass structures

In architecture there is an increasing demand for more and more filigree and lighter transparent structural elements. Current examples demonstrate that the glass is able to transfer loads in columns, beams or shear walls. Due to the very high slenderness of these glass elements, the load bearing capacity is in many cases limited by the stability criteria. There are already concepts which allow reliable analyses based on equations that describe the buckling of glass columns, torsional buckling of glass beams and bulging of glass shear walls. Different concepts are evaluated and compared with experimental data in case of monolithic and laminated glass structures. © 2014, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved.