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Note 35 Level 1

38 TheStructuralEngineer Technical
March 2014 Technical Guidance Note

Introduction to
structural glass
Introduction ICON W
Glass as a
structural material
As with all materials, the design of structural glass elements requires a good LEGEND
understanding of how the material behaves when placed under load. Glass is a
W Applied practice
very strong material, but also extremely brittle. This key attribute causes it to
fail suddenly as it cannot yield, unlike more traditional materials such as steel
and timber. This fact presents unique challenges to structural engineers when W Further reading

designing structural elements to be made from glass.

This technical guidance note is an introduction to glass as a structural W Web resources
material. It aims to describe glass in terms of its properties, how it reacts when
subjected to various forces and the methods currently being explored and
adopted by structural engineers when designing structural glass elements.
Much of the guidance written here reflects what is provided in the recently
published Institution guide: Structural use of glass in buildings: second edition.

Glass as a
structural material
Glass has been in use for more than 5 500
years, with the earliest examples being
from Egypt in the form of coloured jewellery
and small vessels to store liquids. Glass
manufacture was further developed by the
Romans (Figure 1) who were the first to use it
as a glazing material. It was very rare to have
glazing in households during the Roman
era, being considered highly prestigious.
The manufacture of glass changed little
during the Iron Age and it wasn’t until the
19th century that technology developed to
the point where large glass panes could be
created. This led to its wholesale adoption
as a cladding material in the 1970s, but its
use as a structural material is even more
recent.

This is one of the reasons why a Eurocode

has yet to be created for the design of
structural glass elements. It was in the 1990s
that the first steps towards a European wide
code of practice began with the release
of prEN 14174, which eventually became
prEN 16612. This is a draft methodology for
determining the bending strength of glass
using limit state theory, and forms the basis
of this technical guidance note.
Glass behaviour
Glass does not yield like timber and steel as
it is a brittle material. Its failure is difficult to
N Figure 1
Roman glass vessels
predict once it begins to fracture.
This behaviour has been borne out from
destructive tests carried out on 6mm thick
sheets of annealed glass using the test
method described in EN 1288-2 Glass
in building. Determination of the bending
strength of glass. Coaxial double ring test on
flat specimens with large test surface areas.
The results shown in Figure 2 show how
unpredictable the failure of glass is.
With glass’s inability to yield, stress
concentrations around connections are
of great concern as they can become the
primary cause of failure. To further illustrate
this point Figure 3 shows the stress/strain
curve of steel and glass. This indicates how
steel extends beyond its plastic limit, yet still
manages to maintain its structural integrity,
whereas glass will instantly fail as soon as it
exceeds its elastic limit.

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Results of 740 tests on 6mm annealed glass using EN 1288-2 test method,
Number of results
 Figure 2
Test results of failed annealed glass panes, 6mm thick
N Figure 4
Large deflection theory vs. simple deflection theory
Another behavioural aspect of glass
elements is that they typically deflect more
than their own thickness. This requires the
adoption of large deflection theory when
designing structural glass elements, which is
an unfamiliar approach to most. Historically,
stresses in glass have erroneously been
expressed as if small deflection theory were
valid using ad hoc methods, leading to the
correct thickness. This gave rise to the use
of unrealistic allowable stresses and typically
led to the oversizing of glass elements by
making them thicker than they needed to be.
Quoted design stresses for use with small
deflection theory will be larger than realistic
design stresses used with large deflection
theory. This is described diagrammatically in
Figure 4.
Glass types
There is actually only one core type of
soda-lime glass; basic annealed. It is from
this glass that all other forms are derived,
as they are essentially panes of basic
annealed glass that are treated during or
TSE27_38-42 TGN 4.5p v3.indd 39
samples were from nine European factories
Breakage stress N/mm2
after the manufacturing process. In order
of characteristic strength (low to high) the
forms of glass are:
• wired glass
• patterned glass
• annealed (or basic annealed) glass
• heat-strengthened (or semi-tempered)
glass
• thermally-toughened (also referred to as
heat-toughened, fully-toughened and fully-
tempered) glass
• chemically-toughened (also referred to as
chemically-tempered) glass
• laminated glass
What follows is a very brief description of
each. For a more detailed explanation refer
to Chapter 2 of Structural use of glass in
buildings: second edition.
Wired glass
Wired glass has a welded mesh that has
been laid into the glass while in its semi-
molten state. It is sometimes thought of as
stronger than basic annealed glass because
the wires are thought to act as a form of
reinforcement. In fact, the opposite is true as
the wires act as crack inducers that weaken
the glass. However, they do provide greater
post-breakage strength as the wires reduce
the risk of glass panes falling from their
supports.
Patterned glass
Patterned glass is manufactured by passing
float glass between two rollers (which is why
it was formerly known as ‘rolled glass’), one
of which forms an impression or pattern in
the glass. It is very difficult to ascertain the
base thickness (and therefore the strength)
of patterned glass. This is due to the varying
thickness of patterned glass panes as well
as sandblasting and other causes of flaws
that tend to be found in the material. Due
to this uncertainty the draft methodology
text prEN 16612 advises a factor of 0.75 be
applied to stress limits for this type of glass.
www.thestructuralengineer.org
39
N Figure 3
Stress/strain curves for steel and float glass
If, however, the minimum thickness at any
section is known and the quality of the glass
itself is of a reasonable standard, then it
can be used as a base against which the full
stress capacity can be applied.
Basic annealed glass
Commonly made using the Float Process, and
hence sometimes referred to as ‘float glass’; it
is made from silica sand, soda ash, limestone
and salt cake. These are blended together
into a cullet, which includes recycled broken
glass, and heated in a furnace to 1 500ºC
until it becomes molten glass. This is then fed
onto a tin bath and controlled heating allows
the glass to flow into a uniform thickness.
The molten glass is then slowly cooled within
an annealing lehr/oven. The speed at which
the glass passes through the lehr defines
its thickness. Basic annealed glass has no
intentional locked in stresses and breaks into
large shards when it fails.
Heat-strengthened glass
Also known as ‘partially toughened’ or
‘semi-tempered’, this type begins life as
basic annealed glass which is then heated
to approximately 620ºC. It is then quenched
by jets of cooled air. This has the effect of
cooling and solidifying the surface, before
the interior has a chance to cool. As the
interior cools it tries to shrink and goes
into tension. This is opposed by an equal
compression in the quenched surfaces. The
maximum thickness of heat-strengthened
glass is around 10-12mm due to the way in
which it is manufactured. Its mode of failure
is similar to that of basic annealed glass, i.e.
large shards.
Thermally-toughened glass
Thermally-toughened glass is sometimes
called ‘fully tempered’, although it must be
borne in mind that the strength range is
different depending on the term adopted.
Its creation follows a similar process to that
of heat-strengthened glass, but with more
pronounced and effective locked-in stresses.
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40 TheStructuralEngineer
March 2014
S Figure 5
Broken thermally-toughened glass
In Europe, the surface compressive stress
ranges of thermally toughened glass are
usually between 80 and 150N/mm2. When
thermally-toughened glass fails it breaks into
small fragments, commonly referred to as
‘dice’ (Figure 5).
Chemically-toughened glass
A different pattern of stresses can be
achieved by chemical toughening, in which
the composition of the surface of the glass
is altered. This is achieved by dipping the
panes into electrolysis baths in which the
sodium ions on the surface of the glass are
exchanged for potassium ions, which are
30% bigger (Figure 6).
The two key advantages of this process
over thermal toughening are that there is
minimal deformation during the toughening
process and thinner sheets of glass can
be toughened. The disadvantage is a much
thinner surface compressive layer, which is
likely to be less resistant to surface damage
than the thicker layer produced by thermal
toughening. It is also significantly more
expensive than thermal toughening.
Laminated glass
Laminating is a process in which two or more
pieces of glass are bonded by means of a
viscoelastic interlayer, to give redundancy
post breakage. The six materials that are
used for the interlayer are:
• polyvinyl butyral (PVB)
• thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU)
• ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA)
• polyester (PET)
• resins (such as acrylic)
• ionoplast
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Note 35 Level 1
Technical
Technical Guidance Note
The interlayer can be from 0.38 - 6mm thick
and usually comes in multiples of 0.38mm
for PVB. Though two layers of glass is the
most common arrangement, more than 25
layers have been successfully bonded in an
assembly over 100mm thick.
Laminates can incorporate many
thicknesses and combinations of glass
types to give a range of products with
the required selection of mechanical and
optical properties. Other materials such
as polycarbonates can be included. Basic
annealed, heat-strengthened and toughened
glass can all be laminated.
"There is actually
only one core type
of soda-lime glass"
N Figure 6
Section through toughened glass showing comparison
between stresses in thermal and chemical processes
N Figure 7
Section through laminated glass indicating bending
stress within plies for short-term and long-term conditions
The structural behaviour of laminated glass
depends on the type(s) of glass used and
the properties of the interlayer. Generally
for the PVB and resin interlayer materials,
short-term out-of-plane loads can be
resisted by both leaves acting compositely.
Due to creep in the interlayer long-term
out-of-plane loads are generally considered
to act non-compositely, with the loads being
shared by each leaf in proportion to their
relative stiffnesses (Figure 7). This, however,
is not the case with laminated glass that
has an ionoplast interlayer. Such panels
exhibit some composite action even during
long-term loading conditions, although their
strength is diminished somewhat. This is due
to the stiffness of the ionoplast interlayer
decreasing over time.
Material properties
The material properties for all types of glass
are as follows:
• Density = 2 500kg/m 3
• Young’s modulus = 70 000N/mm 2
• Poisson’s ratio = 0.22
The characteristic strength of glass
increases if it is pre-stressed. The values
provided in Table 1 are based on a single
pane of glass.
The coefficient of thermal expansion of
glass depends on its chemical composition.
In basic annealed glass additives such as
alkalines can vary the coefficient from
8-9 # 10-6K-1. Borosilicate glass has a
coefficient of 3-5 # 10-6K-1 and purer silicone
dioxide glass (i.e. fused silica or quartz
glass) has lower values around 5 # 10-7K-1;
this makes it useful in the construction of
cooking surfaces such as ceramic hobs.
Design criteria
Draft methodology for determining the
design strength of glass (prEN 16612) is
based on applying material factors on the
glass itself, and coefficients that address the
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41

Table 1: Characteristic strength of common types of glass

Glass type Characteristic strength (N/mm2)
load duration and the way in which the glass
Basic annealed/wired 45 has been manufactured. The fundamental
Heat-strengthened 70 tenet of the draft methodology is that the
applied bending stress (EULS;d) must not
Toughened 120
exceed the design bending strength (Rd).
Table 2: Partial factors for variable actions (cq) on structural glass elements
With the guidance being based on limit state
Type of element Partial factor for variable actions (cq) theory, partial factors must be applied to
actions. For permanent actions the partial
Primary structure 1.5
factor (cg) is 1.35. Partial factors for variable
Secondary structure 1.3 actions (cq) are based on EN 1990-1 and are
Infill panel 1.2 summarised in Table 2:

Low risk infill panel* 1.1

The calculation of the design strength is
*An infill panel whose failure would not cause injury
based on the design characteristic strength
Table 3: Values for kmod for basic annealed glass (fg;d) and is
determined using the following equation:
Duration Example kmod
5 seconds Single gust 1.00 k mod k sp fg;k
30 seconds Domestic balustrade load 0.89
fg;d = c M; A
5 minutes Workplace/public balustrade load 0.77 where:
10 minutes Multiple gust (storm) 0.74 fg;k is the characteristic strength of basic
30 minutes Maintenance access 0.69 annealed glass (45N/mm2)
kmod is the factor for load duration (Table 3)
5 hours Pedestrian access 0.60 ksp is the factor for glass surface profile
1 week Snow load short-term 0.48 (Table 4)
cM;A is the material partial factor for basic
1 month Snow load medium-term 0.44
annealed glass (1.6)
3 months Snow load long-term 0.41
50 years Permanent (e.g. self-weight and altitude 0.29 Load duration has a significant impact
pressure) on structural glass elements due to the
microscopic flaws on its surface. As loads
are applied to glass elements these flaws
Table 4: Values for ksp
can grow and cause cracking to the point
Type of glass As produced Sandblasted of overall failure of the glass. In recognition
Float 1.0 0.6 of this, coefficient kmod has been developed
within prEN 16612 that is always applied
Drawn sheet 1.0 0.6
when determining the design strength of
Enamelled float or drawn sheet 1.0 0.6 glass. Table 3 is a list of values for kmod with
Patterned 0.75 0.45 increasing typical load duration periods.

Enamelled patterned 0.75 0.45

The coefficient ksp concerns what post-
Polish wired 0.75 0.45 treatment the glass pane’s surface may have
Patterned wired 0.6 0.36 received prior to installation. The values for
this coefficient are listed in Table 4.

Table 5: Values for kv

When considering pre-stressed glass
Manufacturing process Strengthening factor kv (i.e. heat-strengthened and toughened)
Horizontal toughening 1.0 an additional expression is installed into
the equation for determining the design
Vertical toughening 0.6 strength of basic annealed glass:

Table 6: Values for fb;k

k mod k sp fg;k k v (fb;k - fg;k)
Base type Values of fb;k of pre-stressed glass (N/mm2)
fg;d = c M; A + c M;v
Thermally-toughened Heat-strengthened Chemically-toughened
where:
Sheet float 120 70 150
kv is the factor derived from the method of
Patterned 90 55 100 strengthening of the glass (Table 5)
Enamelled float 75 45 - fb;k is the characteristic bending strength of
pre-stressed glass (Table 6)
Enamelled 75 45 -
cM;v is the material partial factor for surface
patterned
pre-stressed glass (1.2)

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Note 35 Level 1

42 TheStructuralEngineer Technical
March 2014 Technical Guidance Note

Eurocode 0.
Applied practice Glossary and
further reading

British Standards Institution (2013)
13/30281354 DC: BS EN 16612: Glass
in building. Determination of the load
resistance of glass panes by calculation
and testing (draft for public comment)
London: BSI
British Standards Institution (2000)
BS EN 1288-2:2000 Glass in building.
Determination of the bending strength
of glass. Coaxial double ring test on flat
specimens with large test surface areas
London: BSI
British Standards Institution (2002) BS
EN 1990:2002 Basis of Structural Design
London: BSI
Cullet – crushed glass that is ready to
be melted as part of the manufacturing
process of float glass.
Enamel – A glassy material which is
melted into the surface of the base glass
at high temperatures to form a ceramic
coating.
Float glass – Glass which has been
manufactured by floating the molten
glass on a bed of molten tin until it sets,
producing a product with surfaces which
are flat and parallel.
Interlayer – The material used to bind
plies of glass together in laminated glass.
Pre-stressed glass – method of
re-heating basic annealed glass that
introduces a surface compressed stress,
thus making it stronger in bending.
Further Reading
The Institution of Structural Engineers
(2014) Structural use of glass in buildings:
second edition London: The Institution of
Structural Engineers
Eurocode 0.
Web resources
The Institution of Structural Engineers library:
www.istructe.org/resources-centre/library

Errata
In Technical Guidance Note No. 9 (Level 2) ‘Designing a reinforced concrete retaining wall’ (The Structural Engineer, January 2014) the worked example
contained errors which impact on the calculation of the bearing stress under the wall base:

• In Figure 3, the location point about which the wall rotates should have been positioned at the level of the base slab and not at the bottom of the heel
beam (see revised version below)

Assumed
excavation

Corrected pivot
point at toe Incorrect pivot point as
used in original Figure 3

• The surcharge should have been included in the bearing stress calculation, which equates to an additional 30kN/m of unfactored load being applied to
the section of the base below the surcharge

• The corrected pivot point results in a revised calculated design bearing stress under the base of the wall of 226.06 kN/m2 (maximum) and 51.19 kN/m2
(minimum). Therefore, there is no resulting tension between the soil and the base of the wall

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