Extended Load Model for Point Fitted Insulating Glass Units. (LAC14.E)

An insulating glass unit (IGU) reacts to a change in temperature or barometric pressure with a change of its cavity’s gas pressure. This leads to the so called “climate loading” of the glass panes, which can be considered in the structural analysis for each pane as an external load, acting on both adjacent glass panes. In addition, an external loading onto the exterior pane, like a wind- or snow load, is distributed to all glass panes of the IGU due to mechanical coupling effects of the encapsulated gas between the panes. Glass breakage and/or demolished edge bonds may be caused.
In this paper, an extension of an existing load model for linear supported IGUs to IGUs with point fittings is presented. The extended load model considers beyond the coupling of the two panes via the encapsulated gas, the abolition of the pinned edges’ frame condition, which is replaced by (a) the coupling of the free edges via the edge bond and (b) the insertion of the point fittings.