Study of the Bonding Properties for Timber – Glass Composite Beams : The influence of viscoelastic adhesives on the load-bearing capacity

Sammanfattning: The study of the influence of viscoelastic adhesives on timber-glass composite beams addresses the development of new and innovative load bearing structures. Hybrid timber-glass beams, comprising of timber flanges and a glass web, were considered. The solutions proposed in this study are based on utilizing viscoelastic adhesive bond lines to obtain optimal structural interaction between timber and glass. For hybrid timber-glass beams, numerical simulations have been developed with Abaqus, Finite element software which are verified by analytical methods according to the Eurocode 5 (EN 1995). In this study, three different bond-line geometries and three adhesives (epoxy, silicone and acrylate) have been investigated. The beams were analyzed under four-point bending. This report summarizes theoretical investigations, background studies, numerical modelling and analytical solution that have been performed. Guidance is presented which can be used for the design of timber-glass composite beams. The study has shown that the viscoelastic properties of the adhesive had no significant influence for the selected epoxy adhesive, but it can slightly affect the beam behavior with the silicone and acrylate adhesives used. From the three geometries studied, the design with an epoxy bond-line on both sides and on top of glass is regarded the best way, leading to good load-bearing structural elements where the response of the adhesive was highly influenced by its near incompressible behavior.