Behaviour of laminated glass beams reinforced with pre-stressed cables

Structural glass corresponds to an innovative material with extraordinary aesthetical and architectonic potential that has undergone significant technological advances in recent years, yielding it stronger and safer. For this reason, the use of structural glass has increased considerably in the last decade and is now an unavoidable presence in most of recent reference buildings.
The structural capacity of glass elements is brought in from reinforcing techniques of different types. One of the possibilities corresponds to pre stressed cables reinforcement. This technique is very effective in terms of resistance and deformability and corresponds to a light reinforcing element rendering the so called spider web effect. In the framework of the research project “S-Glass: Structural performance and design rules of glass beams externally reinforced” [1] study the behavior of laminated glass beams reinforced by too twin external steel rods.
The work presented in the current paper is within the framework of S-Glass project aiming at characterizing the behavior of reinforced laminated glass beams in the non-crack regimen. For this purpose experimental and numerical analysis were prepared. The numerical model was used for a cable layout optimization analysis. Furthermore an analytical solution is put forward, which tackles the beam-cable load transfer indetermination. Final conclusions are established on the bases of a comparison established between experimental, numerical and analytical results.