Structural use of adhesives for the construction of frameless glass shells

The author has investigated the mechanical properties of glass butt joints to be used in the design of glass roofs in architecture. Thanks to adhesive joining, it is possible to design self-bearing structural glass shells without using any metal frame or connection, thus increasing the degree of transparency. After the selection of an adhesive by means of tests on the mechanical properties, a prototype of a frameless structural glass shell has been designed and built in order to show the high potential of such a solution.