Numerical Analysis of Crack Propagation in Tubular Glass Column

Abstract

Abstract The demand for transparency has increased in the construction industry and contemporary architecture over the last decade. The prior researchers focused on glass columns because their uniqueness and transparent characteristics generate an impressive visual feature. Past studies on structural glass entailed numerous experimental investigations, but FEA was applied in a few investigation exercises. This study aims to validate the experimental data and analyse the crack in the tubular glass column and determine the effectiveness of different slenderness ratios of the glass column. This study investigated the column structural behaviour under compression with different geometrical dimensions of hollow section laminated glass columns to determine their load-carrying capacity, buckling performance, and failure mechanism. Finite element analysis using the explicit method was performed by using ABAQUS. The study found that the failure mechanisms depend on the slenderness ratio classified into two failure modes, either buckling or crushing. The glass column failed due to buckling when the slenderness ratio is more than 40, while it failed due to crushing when the slenderness ratio is less than 40. The finite element analysis did not correlate perfectly with the experimental data since the FEA underestimating the glass performance.