A new Design Concept for Point Fixed Glazing

Abstract

The determination of load carrying capacity and serviceability of point fixed glazing is a challenging task. A lot of parameters have an influence on the resulting values, especially on stress values around the bore hole. Generally, only specialized engineers are able to perform this analysis. Reasons for this are the multitude of parameters, the lack of analytical solutions and incompletely analyzed load carrying mechanisms on the one hand, and on the other hand, the lack of a generally accepted and accurate design concept for stress and deflection calculation in Germany. The calculation of point fixed glazing is usually done by using finite element analysis (FEA). However, the scatter of the results is very large – which means that the quality can be evaluated as low. The reasons for these deviations are usually based on the deficient FEA software and an inaccurate modeling done by the user. Therefore, the user needs a guideline for the design process. A new design concept for point fixed glazing has been developed on the basis of analytical, experimental and numerical studies. This new concept consists of two main parts. The first part is a quality check of the calculation model. The user has to prove his model by reference values and theoretical principles. The second part deals with the actual calculation process of the whole glazing. This process has to be done as case-specific analysis. Thereby, it contributes to a safe and realistic design process in the field of point fixed glazing.