Structural behavior of a hybrid steel-glass beam - Numerical approach

Hybrid structural elements represent for civil engineering applications a solution that has be-come ever more popular in recent years. While different materials can be efficiently combined, however, their actual mechanical behaviour strictly depends on the bonding joints. Especially when new high performance materials are used for adhesive connections, their characterization at the local and assembly levels is a challenge that design codes actually do not cover. This paper aims at characterizing the structural behaviour of hybrid steel-laminated glass beams (HB), in which the interaction between steel and glass members is based on a commercial structural adhesive (Sika Force 7710 L100). Major advantage for the structural assessment of HB samples in bending is derived Finite Element numerical models developed in ABAQUS, and compared with past experiments. A special care is spent for the mechanical characteriza-tion of structural adhesives, including hyperelastic laws calibrated from tailored tests on adhe-sive specimens.