Effect of non-uniform temperature exposure on the out-of-plane bending performance of ordinary laminated glass panels

Among the open design issues for structural laminated glass (LG) elements, their mechanical performance during fire exposure stands as a safety concern. This issue is the focus of this paper. An experimental investigation is conducted to evaluate the effect of non-uniform thermal gradients on the out-of-plane bending capacity of standard LG specimens. The pre-fracture, cracking, and post-fracture performances of LG panels were examined using a three-point bending setup. The bending tests were carried out on un-heated LG samples and heated samples, which were either hot or cooled down. The reliability of available analytical and numerical methods to predict the out-of-plane bending performance of LG is then investigated. The accuracy of the analytical and numerical methods was found to be highly affected by the non-uniform thermal boundaries, as well as by the assigned material properties, which are highly sensitive to the fire exposure.