Tests of Glass Insulating Panels with Embedded Laminated Point Connections

Abstract

Embedded laminated point connections represent a progressive way of glass structures connecting. However, detail information about their performance is not available yet and the design procedure is mostly based on experimental work and previous experience of designers. Within an ongoing research at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague, a set of real-scale insulating glass panels with embedded laminated point connections was tested. The goal of the experiment was to determine the load bearing capacity and characteristics of this type of glass panel under short-term and long-term loads. There were three different types of panels used for the experiment. The specimens consisted of different combinations of glass plies (ESG, TVG) and plies of different thicknesses. However, all the specimens were identically sized and there was one embedded steel countersunk bolt liners in each panel’s corner. The laminated glass plies were bonded by two layers of an EVA foil in all cases. During the experiment, all the samples were placed horizontally using the embedded point connections. The applied load was gradually increasing until the collapse. Vertical deflections in specific points of the samples were measured. The temperature and the humidity were monitored as well.