Bracing Steel Frames with Adhesively Bonded Glass Panes - Mechanic Models

Circumferentially adhesive bonded glass panes in steel frames of facades can take over the structural function of steel braces for the stabilization of one-storey buildings. A system, built up of a steel frame, a single glass pane and a flexible adhesive bonded joint across the full thickness of the glass pane was subjected to a concentrated horizontal in-plane load at the top. Experiments with square glass pane sizes showed that the system had a very small inplane stiffness, a glass-steel contact at large horizontal in-plane loads and a good residual capacity. The parametric studies by means of finite element models only focused on the variation of the geometry of the glass pane. The behaviour of the system mainly depends on the stiffness of the adhesive bonded joint. At larger horizontal in-plane displacements, systems with rectangular glass pane sizes have two glass-steel contacts. The mechanic models well predict the in-plane stiffness of the system, the largest maximum principle stress and the maximum normal and shear stresses in the adhesive bonded joint. The horizontal in-plane load and the horizontal in-plane displacement at the top at the first glass-steel contact are also well predicted. The criteria are the limitation of the horizontal in-plane displacement at the top (serviceability) or the strain rate of the adhesive bonded joint (strength). To guarantee the stability of a building all glass panes in the facade have to be mobilized to transfer in-plane load.