Experimental and Numerical Simulations of Climatic Loads in Insulating Glass Units by Controlled Change of Pressure in the Gap

Abstract

Insulating glass units (IGUs) are building components that show a particular structural behavior. Although such structures have many advantages from the point of view of thermal protection of buildings, they show particular structural behavior under climatic loads. The inability to equalize the pressure with the surrounding atmospheric air causes over- or under-pressure inside the gap. The phenomenon may result in the deformation of the panes under the influence of temporary or cyclical changes in weather conditions. This article presents the results of an experimental campaign with a representative IGU sample. The sample had dimensions of 500 mm × 500 mm and was composed of two 6 mm glass panes and a 16 mm wide spacer. The experiments were carried out using a rarely used methodology by inducing a controlled pressure change in the gap. Subsequently, analytical and numerical models were developed, and the results were compared with the experimental findings. The study found that the rapid injection/withdrawal of gas into/from the gap causes a sudden change in the pressure inside the gap, which decreases in absolute value and stabilizes after a few seconds. The decrease, on average, of 7% is due to adiabatic effects resulting from the high rate of gas exchange. The results from the numerical and analytical studies underestimate the pressure difference values obtained in the tests by an average of 8%. In terms of deflections and stresses, the results overestimate the experiments by 16% and 32%, respectively. This finding indicates the presence of a partial rotational restrain of the panes’ edges, which some researchers have also reported. This effect is usually ignored in engineering practice.