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Abstract

Laminated glass fins are often used in glass curtain wall system where they are subjected to in-plane bending. Due to a relatively low edge strength of glass, strengthening of the edge of glass fin becomes necessary. In-pane bending experiments were conducted on the unstrengthened laminated glass fins and the strengthened ones by means of glass plates or stainless steel strips. It was found that the load-carrying capacity was improved (25.6%) similarly for both strengthening approaches while strengthening at only the edges of glass fin appears to be more efficient. Parametric investigations based on the validated finite element models further indicated that such an improvement depends on the composite action between glass fin and strengthening components. It was demonstrated that the composite action was enhanced by increasing the length or deceasing the height of the glass fin, or by decreasing the width or height of the strengthening component. The results obtained are expected to provide valuable information for the design of all-glass curtain wall structures with variable geometries and the improvement of their load carrying capacity.

Keywords

glass member curtain wall strengthening in-plane bending finite element analysis parametric analysis

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