Web Application For Analysis and Monitoring of Flat Thin Rectangular Glass Panel in Buildings Subjected to Wind and Seismic Forces

Abstract

Huge damages and loss of lives due to failure of glass panels and façade structures in buildings reported during past disasters such as the 1983 Mid-Japan Sea Earthquake and glass curtain façade failures due to 1994 Typhoon in Wan Chai district of Hong Kong suggest that there is a significant difference between available research literature related to structural mechanics, codes available on glass failure behavior and that with the safe structural design, mitigation practices actually implemented by modern construction firms and industries using significant structural glass components in buildings especially in newly emerging cities of India. This study presents a web application that simulates the behavior of glass plates towards two independent loading events: wind pressure acting transversely on the plates and seismic excitations deforming the in-plane glass frames leading to stress concentration patterns around plates. The App starts by prompting the user to input site-specific, plate geometry, building type and class, terrain, location-specific parameters. The framework of the application is designed in three stages. Stage-I uses computational GPS algorithms to determine Basic wind speed of the location based on wind zone map of India, combines analytical procedures in IS 875 Part III and Indian draft codes to formulate SNT(Standard Nominal Thickness) of glass plates and net design wind pressure acting transversely on them. In stage II, Deflection and bending behavior are investigated and relevant computations are performed. Mesh-generation procedures and Finite Element Method are implemented and coded by authors to solve the fourth order PDE of classical plate deflection and bending equation with relevant boundary conditions. And in stage III of analysis, buckling of glass panels due to in-plane seismic excitations and calculations for drift ratios are done adding the functionality of the app. The web application generates deflection contours, compares software results with analytical and code provisions and finally sends to the user, an output report of performance of glass component. Model calculations spanning over all three stages of analysis for different buildings’ glass plates in two cities of India are presented to demonstrate complete functionality.