Tempering is a thermal process to strengthen glass by generating superficial compressive stresses. This work is concerned with tempered glass plates assembled by pin-loaded joints. In such a structure, a hole in a glass plate is reinforced by a steel ring glued to the glass plate by means of a thin soft resin layer. To determine residual stresses in a holed tempered glass plate, the tempering process of the latter is first modelled & numerically simulated. In addition, residual stresses thus determined are compared with those issued from the photoelasticity measurement. The mechanical behaviour of the soft resin is also modelled & experimentally identified. Finally, the failure process of tempered glass with pin-loaded joints is analyzed numerically & experimentally, in which unilateral contact, friction, damage & residual stresses are involved. The numerical results obtained by the finite element method turn out to be in good agreement with the experimental ones from real-size tests.
