As the world's first Suspension bridge with large space cable plane opening, Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon "Yuntiandu" glass bridge project is the first large-scale landscape bridge using glass as a stressed structural member. The entire bridge adopts glass as the bridge deck, with a total of 99 pieces of glass on the bridge deck. Each piece of glass is 4.42 meters long, 3.01 meters wide, and 50 millimeters thick, with a single weight of 1.5 tons. Glass load-bearing is facing challenges. This is the first time that glass structural products have been applied in the non curtain wall field as part of the load-bearing structure under horizontal load-bearing conditions. Elastic rubber gaskets are installed below and on the sides of the glass structure to ensure sufficient clearance and deformation coordination under various loads, so that it can only bear local loads and does not participate in the overall stress of the entire bridge structure.

 However, the processing and construction of glass face enormous challenges. Under horizontal installation conditions, glass is used as a load-bearing structural unit for a long time. In addition to conventional common loads, it also bears unconventional loads such as people and falling rocks. Overcoming brittleness is the first time that glass has been used as suspension bridge deck in such a large number. The "brittleness" of glass makes it difficult to ensure its good durability, stability, and reliability during installation and service.
   Brittle materials are used as load-bearing materials. Once an uncontrollable and accidental falling object occurs, how to ensure that it will not be damaged after being impacted, or will not fall after being damaged? This is also a test of whether it has a strong rear bearing performance, and it is necessary to ensure that the bridge deck personnel are foolproof.

In recent decades, with the emergence of laminated glass and the improvement of its laminating process, the use area and application range of glass in the construction field have been greatly increased and expanded. The laminated glass builds a "bridge" between the glass sheets through the bonding effect of the polymer interlayer film, forming a "sandwich" structure, which enhances the integrity of the laminated glass components, improves the overall bearing capacity, and can also be used in the glass layer. Adhere to glass fragments after breaking, and maintain a certain residual bearing capacity.High performance and high requirements to ensure safety When selecting materials, the glass bridge adopts the form of multi-layer tempered glass+film, and uses ultra white glass containing as little as possible Nickel sulfide and heterogeneous particles for processing and manufacturing. The film uses SGP material with high shear resistance and excellent post failure load-bearing performance.
   It is worth mentioning that considering the high requirements for weather resistance of glass bridges, technicians have conducted repeated experiments and comparisons to ensure that the deflection deformation and structural strength changes of glass and film under different outdoor weather conditions meet the design safety requirements, thereby ensuring the safety of the bridge deck bearing capacity.

 Finally, there is the construction phase. Due to the suspended valley where the glass bridge is located, the single piece weight of the glass is very large, and the lifting and transportation process of the glass is also a challenge. Accurate control and precise construction are required to ensure that brittle materials enter the predetermined steel structure materials safely and ensure that the glass does not come into direct contact with metal or non-metallic hard materials.