Laminated glass slabs design challenges: dynamic identification of a fractured pedestrian walkway

Abstract

Design codes provide requirements for traditional slabs to ensure both safety levels and in‐service functionality criteria. However, for existing structures, an initial diagnostic knowledge phase is essential to characterize the actual health state, e.g. based on structural health monitoring (SHM) with operational modal analysis (OMA) techniques. Considering recent advancements in glass as a structural material, laminated glass (LG) slabs are increasingly used in constructions and are mostly designed to account for the intrinsic brittleness and limited tensile resistance of glass. The latest pre‐code CEN/TS 19100:2021 is paving the road for an imminent future Eurocode 10 dedicated to providing new standards for the innovative use of structural glass. In the current study, a brief review of the design challenges of working with structural glass is presented. After that, the authors provided a simple experimental dynamic identification example of an LG pedestrian walkway located in the Basilica of Aquileia, Trieste (Italy). Specifically, the fundamental mode was compared to a healthy and a partially fractured LG slab. Functionality aspects related to comfort standards with respect to in‐service vibration issues are also detailed.