Fire endurance analysis of ordinary structural glass elements

Glass material is largely used for load-bearing components in buildings. For this reason, standardized calculation methods can be used in support of safe structural design in common loading and boundary conditions. The mechanical performance of structural glass elements in fire, however, still represents an open challenge. Often, special fire-resisting glass solutions are used for limited practical applications only, and ordinary soda-lime silica glass prevails in design. Moreover, conventional recommendations and testing protocols in use for load-bearing members composed of traditional constructional materials are not already addressed for glass members. This paper elaborates on the fire endurance and failure detection methods for structural glass beams that are subjected to standard ISO time-temperature for fire exposure and in-plane bending mechanical loads. Fire endurance assessment methods are discussed with the support of Finite Element (FE) numerical analyses.