Earthquake Tests of Glass Structures

Worldwide investigations to protect people in case of earthquakes in seismic active regions like e.g. Japan or part of the United States are done. Earthquake engineering develops differnet methods for design of building or bridges with minimised risk of collapse due to earthquake. But there is an – often underestimated – risk for the health of people outside the buildings (e.g. on pavements) in case of an earthquake caused by falling parts of facades or canopies.

In this paper basics of glass structures (different applications and bearing situations, different kinds of glass) and an overview about their design is given briefly. The main part is testing of glass elements with a special focus on earthquake tests which are done in laboratory of the Universität der Bundeswehr München at present. Research work will be continued with different bearing situations and other common applications like facades.