Modern architecture strives for high transparency and lean structures. This cannot be achieved without the use of glass. However, the use of glass is usually limited to the optical design and the fulfilment of building physic tasks in the building envelope. According to the current status of standardization for glass in structural engineering, glass may be used for load transfer of loads acting on the surface, but up to now stresses in-plane in addition to the dead weight have been explicitly excluded. One reason for this is a lack of basic principles, although the beginnings of "modern glass construction" date back to the early 19th century. This topic has already been investigated in various research projects. However, the approaches developed there are often not transferable in terms of construction practice. The objective of this work is to develop a method for activating the glazing as a stiffening element in the building that is relevant for construction practice. For this purpose, the principle of the bearing of a fixed glazing by blocking is taken up. This approach enables the formation of a shear field in the glass, similar to a strut-and-tie system. Diagonal braces subjected to pressure are adjusted, thus contributing to the "visual" reduction of the load-bearing structure. Within the scope of this work, numerical and experimental investigations are used to assess the load-bearing behaviour of various boundary conditions. Subsequently, a design concept for the verification of the glazing is developed on the basis of these results. In a first step, the loading capacity of the glass edge for the described application is investigated experimentally and numerically and various influencing variables are identified. In addition to the geometric properties of the glazing, these include the surface finish of the edges, the material of the bearing (connector), as well as the edge distance and the length of the bearing. Then the stability of the glazing is examined experimentally and numerically using the bearing described above. The numerical model is validated on the basis of the test procedure. The results show that the system is excellently suited for load transfer in-plane. Based on the investigations, a design and a safety concept for the use of glass as primary structure in use as a bracing element is developed in a final step. The "failure of a glazing" scenario is taken into account.    «

Modern architecture strives for high transparency and lean structures. This cannot be achieved without the use of glass. However, the use of glass is usually limited to the optical design and the fulfilment of building physic tasks in the building envelope. According to the current status of standardization for glass in structural engineering, glass may be used for load transfer of loads acting on the surface, but up to now stresses in-plane in addition to the dead weight have been explicitly ex...    »