The flexural performance of laminated glass, a composite of two or more glass plies
bonded together by polymeric interlayers, depends upon shear coupling between the
glass components through the polymer. This effect is usually taken into account, in
the design practice, through the definition of the
effective thickness, i.e., the
thickness of a monolith with equivalent bending properties in terms of stress and
deflection. The traditional formulas
àla Bennison–Wölfel are accurate only
when the deformed bending shape of the plate is cylindrical and the plate
response is similar to that of a beam under uniformly distributed load. Here,
assuming approximating shape function for the deformation of laminated plates
variously constrained at the edges, minimization of the corresponding strain
energy furnishes new simple expressions for the effective thickness, which
can be readily used in the design. Comparisons with accurate numerical
simulations confirm the accuracy of the proposed simple method for laminated
plates.