Organisers: Prof. Jan Belis, Ghent University, Belgium & Dr. Faidra Oikonomopoulou, Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands
Emails: jan.belis@ugent.be ; F.Oikonomopoulou@tudelft.nl
Summary: Structural glass is becoming a more mature research field. More and more universities offer a course on structural use of glass in their engineering and/or architectural educational programmes; a Eurocode on the design of glass structures is steadily under development; academic and industrial glass innovations are actively pursued, and impressive glass projects are being realised at the fastest pace ever. The proposed Special Session has the aim of bringing together a fair mix of prominent and early-stage members of the structural glass community in academia, industry and practice, to present their latest findings and discuss with each other, as well as with the larger, interdisciplinary audience of the conference. Expected contributions will address research & development work (theoretical, experimental, numerical modelling), completed projects, case studies, construction methods, manufacturing processes and standardisation issues. Contributions focusing on enhancing circularity of glass in the built environment are also encouraged, particularly with regard to solutions that extend service life through material reduction, reuse, component remanufacture and recycling. Selected papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of Glass Structures & Engineering, a Springer Nature journal.