Use of laminated safety glass plates under compression: application to the design of an arch pedestrian bridge

Some specific problems concerning structural design of laminated glass panels and the way to connect them for the design of a pedestrian bridge, are presented. The bridge is a typical Maillart’s Bridge with the arch, the walls and the deck, made of glass laminated panels, moreover the deck is stiffened through steel beams. The structural safety level of glass panels is discussed together with factors causing failures in various load configurations. The methods presented in the upcoming European Design Code for glass structures are used. In order to study the global behaviour of the structure a FEM model was carried out. In the context of the stability analysis parametric studies are made, extending sandwich theory to study the interaction between glass and interlayer (polyvinylbutiral); the load carrying behaviour of laminated glass elements under compression depends mainly on parameters such as glass thickness and shear stiffness of the PVB foil (also depending strongly on temperature and load duration).