Experimental study of the adhesive glass-steel joint behavior in a tensegrity floor

Abstract In this experimental study the mechanical performance of the adhesive joints in a steel-glass connection is investigated. The aim of this work is to verify the applicability of the adhesive bonds on the “Tensegrity floor” (Patent no 0001426973); “Tensegrity floor” is a hybrid system characterized by a particular steel-glass adhesive junction that permits an effective cooperation between the two structural elements (a glass panel and a steel sub-frame). The innovation of this structure is related to the cooperation of the above mentioned elements; in fact, in those applications where the glass represents the floor decking, the adhesive glass-metal junctions have already been used, but the glass panel has not been considered as a cooperating element. For this reason, several adhesives - four epoxy, one silicone and one acrylic - have been herein tested in order to study the opportunity of using this connection to increase the stiffness of the system. Two types of characterization test, compression and tensile tests, have been carried out to obtain the mechanical properties of the adhesives. After this step some suitable component tests have been performed with a stepwise cyclic loading; the results showed the effectiveness of the system in terms of stiffness increasing and consequent reduction in terms of deformations. As a result of these experimental investigations the epoxy adhesives have shown a better behavior, both in compression and in flexion, in term of stiffness, than the acrylic and silicone ones, which, instead, have got highest deformability. A numerical validation of the whole system has been done through a Finite Element Model of the tested samples; the analytical results confirmed the stiffness increase due to the adhesive joint compare to the simply-supported model.