Facade Design with Interlocking Cast Glass System based on Structural Behaviour Investigation

Facade Design with Interlocking Cast Glass System based on Structural Behaviour Investigation

Yang, Heran (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

Oikonomopoulou, F. (mentor)
Bilow, Marcel (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences

2019-07-08

Glass is a material with high potentiality in a structural application. Brittleness has always been challenging for glass structure. Recyclability is also challenging for the current glass application since the chemical bonding is contaminating the recipe. Interlocking cast glass construction offers an interesting bypass to solve these two problems. To not rely on chemical bonding, the interlocking mechanism is used. Interlocking requires self-stabilising bulky units which are the perfect fit for the casting process, which is not conventional for the structural glass. Interlocking construction with glass blocks relies on soft interlayer to avoid peak stress and protect the glass. Also, this makes the interlocking cast glass construction rather challenging to analyse.

The thesis investigates the key aspects of the topological interlocking cast glass (referred as TICG) system with elastomer interlayers. Glass is a sensitive material; its structural behaviour needs to be investigated considering its geometry and boundary condition of the application. The complexity of the structural behaviour lies in three levels, namely, single block level, block-interlayer-block interaction level and interlocking assembly level.

The literature research was done as the first step to understanding the relevant aspect for the TICG system could be. It then concluded that the interlayer mechanical attributes, glass geometry, interlocking amplitude and lateral pre-compression could be the key aspects. A case of the Optical House in Hiroshima, Japan is chosen to apply this technology, for which the possible failure and risk is analysed according to the possible failure mode in the literature research. A strategy of using active façade with compression-release is determined for the key feature of the façade.

Given the complexity in the TICG composition, it is decided to do physical testing on the interlocking cast glass system and blocks, instead of doing numerical simulation. This part generates the requirement for façade engineering to be considered for the next section. The TICG structural behaviour complexity is investigated in three tests, namely, uniaxial test, three-block shear test and assembly test. The uniaxial test yielded the relevance of interlayer strengths and block geometry. The three-block shear test showed the relation between shear key geometry and shear load transfer. The final assembly test proved that the pre-compression is still relevant to the stiffness of the TICG façade and actively controlled releasing mechanism should be integrated.

In the last part, the façade is engineered and detailed considering the requirement previously investigated. Feasibility, detailing and assembly sequence is given. Comparison has been made between existing threaded cast glass solution and the TICG solution.

The thesis plays a part in the glass research group in the Building Engineering department of TU Delft and it is aimed to provide a step forward towards a more reliable and more recyclable glass structural solution.

Glass
Cast glass
Structural glass
Safety design
Risk analysis
Structural Behavior
Facade design
facade control
Smart facade

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:7ce8e61f-ae2a-4232-8ed7-99da86f2328d

Student theses

master thesis

© 2019 Heran Yang