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The deformability of the interlayer does not provide a perfect shear transfer between the glass plies, so that flexural response of laminated glass is somehow intermediate between that of a monolith and that of free-sliding plies. In the design practice, this effect is usually taken into account through the definition of the Effective Thickness (ET), i.e., the thickness of a monolith with equivalent bending properties. Classical formulas for the ET have been proposed by Bennison et al. [1], based on the original analysis by Wölfel [2]. Here, we propose new expressions for the ET based upon strain energy minimization. Practical formulas are derived which apply to the one-dimensional case of beams, as well as to the two-dimensional case of laminated plates. The better efficiency of the proposed method with respect to others is proved by the comparison with accurate three-dimensional numerical simulations.