Tensile tests of embedded laminated glass connections

The trend of modern architecture is heading towards maximum transparency of structures, which makes glass very popular building material. It becomes common to use glass as a material for load-bearing components. Glass facades, roofs, beams or columns must be able to bear stresses occurring during the lifetime period and meet high aesthetical standards at the same time. The most problematic parts of the glass structure design are usually the connections. A lot of alternative connection types have been developed so far. The embedded laminated glass connection is the most modern one and there are many ongoing researches focused on its characteristics. This paper is dealing with series of tests focused on embedded laminated glass connections under short-term tensile loads. Different combinations of glass panes and types of foils were tested. The main goal of the experiment was to determine the tensile resistance of this type of connection. However, all the visible changes of appearance (development of bubbles in the connection area or possible delamination) that occurred during the test and the mode of failure were carefully observed and noted. There were three failure modes that were expected to arise. First one is the failure of the weakened glass pane due to reaching the tensile resistance limit. Second way is represented by the failure of foil caused by reaching the normal stress resistance limit and the last failure mode is caused by delamination. It occurs when the tear resistance limit is reached, and the steel element separates from the foil. The samples were subjected to several loading and unloading cycles. During the tests, the deflection of the glass panel was measured at two points. The experiment shows that the majority of samples collapsed because of the failure of weakened glass pane. Nevertheless, further research consisting of additional tests and numerical modelling is in progress.