Experimental Study on Spring Constants of Structural Glass Panel Joints Under In-Plane Loading

Abstract

Commonly, the columns and beams of glass panels are frequently subjected to in-plane loading, in which their joints will transfer the in-plane forces. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the spring constants of the joints of these glass panels for the mechanical analysis of the structures. However, few issues were published on this subject, so estimating the spring constants of glass structure joints is important. Devote themselves to proposing methods to evaluate the spring constants of the joints of structural glass panels. This study tests two types of glass panels with thicknesses of 12 mm and 19 mm based on static and cycling loading. In addition, two types of Cushions: (1) aluminum and (2) rubber with a hardness of 65 and 90 degrees, are set between steel bolt(s) and glass panel(s) for the experiments. The spring constants are determined by the ratios of measured loads and the displacements between the glass panels and bolts. In addition, the authors proposed an equation to evaluate the bending spring constant from its axial spring constant determined by the loading tests. The experimental results showed that the joints with the aluminum cushion appear exactly non-linear elasticity while loading and unloading. Also, the pin junction within the central region (no Curve) is 0.6mm. It is also determined that aluminum (cushion) slides of approximately ±0.3mm under compression and tension. While loading (Tension/compression) is incremental, rubber acts nonlinearly but linear as unloaded.