Chiara Bedon's BIO
Chiara Bedon is Assistant Professor at University of Trieste, Department of Engineering and Architecture, Italy, where she chairs the course of 'Structural Analysis' (PhD degree in 2012. Born 1983, since 2009 she is involved in European projects and networks. In April 2017, she achieved the Italian National scientific qualification for the position of Associate Professor in Structural Engineering. Co-author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, she collaborated with >80 international scientists. Since 2017, Editor-in-Chief for the open access "International Journal of Structural Glass and Advanced Materials Research" (SGAMR).
Abstract
Glass facades and systems are generally intended as static partitions and assemblies in buildings, aimed to separate the occupants from the environment, or to act as non-structural, secondary components. However, especially under the action of extreme design loads, glass structures require specific design concepts voted to protect the building occupants for possible risks. This is also the case of terroristic attacks and accidents, where the intrinsic fragility and vulnerability of glass components, thus the propagation of possible shards and fragments, should be properly taken into account. Following earlier research efforts, this paper aims at emphasizing the role of glass in buildings, in the form of several load-bearing components. Major design issues and challenges of such as versatile but vulnerable material are then pointed out, with a focus on extreme loading configurations. The potentials of innvative design concepts, strategies and trends for the mitigation of glass structures under exceptional events are then discussed. Among others, it is shown that the development of a distributed-Tuned Mass Damper (TMD) system (that takes advantage of the added mass/stiffness of glass components in buildings) can be extrememly efficient for multi-storey buildings. Comparative numerical simulations are then presented for a case-study building, so to assess the feasibility and possible benefits of this technique, towards further developments and more refined investigations.