Insulating Units Exposed to Wind and Weather Load Sharing and Internal Loads

Franz Feldmeier University of Applied Sciences, Rosenheim, Germany

Keywords
1 = Load sharing 2 = Internal loads 4 = Insulating glass factor 3 = Climatic loads 5 = Characteristic length pressure difference. Both effects depend on the exibility of the panes. For stiff systems the deformation will remain low and a constant volume will be a good approximation. A change of 10 hPa in barometric pressure, a difference of 80 m in altitude or a changing of temperature of 3 C each result in a uniform load of 1 kPa. Thus the climatic loads of insulting glass units are not to be underestimated. But there is an essential difference to wind loads: wind loads are external while climatic loads are reduced by the deformation of the panes. Therefore the climatic load depends on the exibility of the whole system.

Abstract
A change of temperature or barometric pressure results in a pressure difference between the cavity of an insulating glass unit and the exterior and causes a load to the single panes. In the case of a stiff system this load exceeds common wind loads distinctly. On the other hand external loads are shared by both panes. The new parameters isochore pressure and insulating glass factor allow a straightforward calculation of the resulting pressure difference and a design corresponding to common uniform loads.

Introduction
The effect of internal or climatic loads, that is load caused by the change of the climatic conditions temperature or barometric pressure, and the load sharing effect of insulating glass units are generally accepted meanwhile [1,2,3 ]. The performance of the unit depends on the stiffness of the system. Common rectangular insulating glass units of reasonable size show the expected load sharing and low climatic loads only. Small units or units with thicker glass panes, triangular or point supported units, units with curved panes, generally spoken stiff systems will bear a considerably higher load and that may result in damage of the glass. In the following the basics are described and generalised for any size and shape. The formulae will be shown in a general linearised form. The consequences of climatic loads are demonstrated by typical examples and a method is shown how to design insulating glass units taking into account climatic loads.

The pressure in the cavity

Uniformly distributed loads like snow, wind or internal loads and line loads acting perpendicularly to the glass panes result in a deection of the pane. The aim is to know the generated pressure change in the cavity. Figure 2 shows a deformed insulating glass unit schematically and explains the terms. The deformation of the panes modies the volume of the cavity according: (1)
Fig 1

The system
The hermetically sealed air or gas cavity connects both panes mechanically and is thus the reason for the climatic loads. A load on the exterior pane, see gure 1, deforms this pane and the pressure in the cavity will rise. This increase of pressure stresses the interior pane while the load on the exterior pane is reduced. Thus part of the load is transferred to the interior pane. A change of temperature as well as a change of the barometric pressure outside effect the cavity and lead to a

(2) where v is the volume per load in m/kPa. Generally this value may be determined by means of FEM, but in some cases, e.g. rectangular panes, it is directly calculable. It should be mentioned that Formula (2) could easily be extended to line loads [4] and that the method could be adapted to multiple glazing also. For air and common gases in the cavity Boyles and Gay-Lussacs law holds. Thus (3) where pP (pcav ) is the pressure, VP (Vcav)
Fig 2 Symbols and denitions; pcav pressure in the cavity on site; pB barometric pressure; pe ( pi ) uniformly distributed loads and Ve ( Vi ) corresponding change in volume, respectively

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whereas VP is the volume at the time of production. Where climatic loads are important the deformation is mostly small. Thus the corresponding volumes are proportional to the load between the cavity and the outside:

External and internal loads acting on an insulating glass unit; pB barometric pressure, pe external load (i.e. wind), p change of pressure in the cavity, Tcav change of temperature in the cavity

the volume and TP (Tcav) the absolute temperature of the cavity at production and at the place of installation, respectively. Formulae (2) and (3) result in a quadratic expression for the pressure change p:

Simple load sharing and pure climatic load

Flexible systems, e.g. large rectangular unit with thin glass panes, show a very small insulating glass factor. Assuming zero the formulae (10) and (11) simplied: and (11)

Simply shaped units

For simply shaped units the formulae for maximum stress and maximum deformation are given together with the formula for the volume per load. The coefcients and the meaning of the length a are compiled in Table 1. Maximum stress (14) Maximum deformation

(4) and a computer aided analysis of formula (4) gives the change of pressure inside the cavity. On the other hand an easier formula is preferable. The structure of the expression and the order of magnitude of the parameters allow a linear approximation [1]: (5) where the climatic conditions are condensed to the isochore pressure p0: (6) and the characteristics of the insulating glass unit are the: relativ stiffness of the glass panes: and (7) insulating glass factor (8) Using the common barometric pressure pB=100 kPa the insulating glass factor depends on the characteristics of the unit only. The meaning of the insulating glass factor will be investigated in more detail in the next section. Coming from formula (5) the total loads affecting both panes are:

Assuming both panes have equal thickness the relative stiffness is 0,5 at each case and the external load will be shared fty-fty as stated earlier [5]. Without external loads only the load generated by climatic conditions remains. This load is described by the insulating glass factor and the isochore pressure completely:

(15) Volume per load (16)

Example 1
and (12) Remark: The nonlinear isochore pressure formula (6) may be simplied to (13) where c1=0,34 kPa/K and c2=0,012 kPa/m and T change of temperature in the cavity pB change of barometric pressure (high and low pressure area) h change of altitude between the time and place of production and place of installation respectively. If there is no detailed information a value of about 18 kPa is recommended [3].
Table 1 Coefcients for the calculation of maximum stress B, maximum deformation Bw and volume per load BV depending on the shape of the pane.
Shape and length a

The test sample according EN 1279 has the format 350 mm x 500 mm and is exposed to temperatures of 18C and +58C. Assuming a production at 20C and no changes in barometric pressure or altitude, the heating and cooling results in a change of 38 K or an isochore pressure of 12,9 kPa. For a sample with 4 mm glass panes and 12 mm cavity the insulating glass factor is 0,34 and the climatic load therefore 4,4 kPa. The deection will be 1,2 mm and the stress 15 MPa.

Example 2
An equilateral triangle with an edge length of 1200 mm consisting of two glass panes 8 mm and 10 mm respectively and a cavity of 16 mm has an insulating glass factor of 0,423 and is therefore highly stressed by climatic loads.
B 0,303 Bw 0,0472 BV 0,0218

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0,114

0,0065

0,0025

a:b

(9)

1:1 1:2

0,128 0,255

0,0075 0,0237

0,0028 0,0085

(10) The formulae (10) and (11) qualify the load sharing and the climatic load completely.

1:1 4:5 2:3 1:2 1:3

0,272 0,383 0,475 0,603 0,711

0,0461 0,0685 0,0878 0,1151 0,1390

0,0194 0,0288 0,0372 0,0501 0,0646

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Insulating glass factor and characteristic length

The insulating glass factor introduced in formula (8) may be rewritten in a more descriptive form using formula (16). It is (17) where (18)

Table 2 Characteristic length a* in m depending on the shape of the unit and the type of insulating glass (dedcav-di).

Shape and length a

4-12-4 0,333

4-16-4 0,358

8-16-8 0,602

0,573

0,615

1,035

a:b 1:1 1:2 0,557 0,422 0,598 0,453 1,006 0,762

1:1

0,343 0,311 0,292 0,271 0,254

0,369 0,334 0,313 0,291 0,273

0,620 0,562 0,527 0,489 0,459

The characteristic length a* is independent of the size of the unit; Table 2 gives some examples of the characteristic length. The particular importance of that length is shown in gure 3. The stress caused by climatic loads rises to a maximum for an insulating glass unit with an edge length equal to the characteristic length a* or in other words for an insulating glass factor equal to 0,5. Therefore units with sizes close to the characteristic length a* are signicantly stressed by climatic loads. Furthermore shall be noted that in case of an overpressure in the cavity the edge seal of the unit will be stressed also. The maximum stress will occur for units with an edge length equal to three quarter of a*.

4:5 2:3 1:2 1:3

Fig 3 Insulating glass factor and normalised stress caused by climatic loads depending on the size of the insulating glass unit.

Complex systems
Irregularly shaped and complex units, e.g. general polygons, units with curved panes or units with point supports shall be treated by nite element methods. Here the calculation of the volume per load demands a special data evaluation which is normally not included in the standard software.

Example 3
Consider an insulating glass unit with size and point supports according gure 4 and gure 5. The unit consists of 8 mm and 10 mm glass panes and a cavity of 16 mm. The FEM analysis gives 0,025 m3/kPa for the volume per load, 0,013 m3/kPa respectively. The insulating glass factor results in 0,023, that means a non-negligible load of 0,42 kPa assuming an isochore pressure of 18 kPa [3]. The point supports along with the edge seal act as a clamped support and constrain the deformation of the panes. A calculation without the point supports gives an insulating glass factor of only 0,0097. Thus the point supports increase the climatic loads by a factor of 2,4 even if they are well located near the edge. Otherwise the climatic loads will be even more unfavourable.

Fig 5 Example 3, the point supports penetrate the cavity and build a stiff interconnection of the two panes.

Fig 4 Example 3: Size of the unit and location of point supports (dimensions in mm)

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the cavity works against this deformation, see gure 8, and transfers part of the load to the other pane.

Summary
Insulating glass units show a more complex behaviour than sometimes expected. The reason is the interaction of the sealed gas lled cavity with the glass panes. It was shown that both effects, climatic load and load sharing, are well understood and easily calculable. While the load sharing facilitates the design of large units, the climatic load shall be kept in mind for small or otherwise stiff insulating glass units.

Fig 8 Fig 6 Example 4: FEM analysis of the deformation of the panes of a curved insulating glass unit. Example 5: Glass pane (1 m x 3 m) under a horizontal line load (height 1 m). Deformation of the pane under line load (left), the deformation caused by the generated overpressure in the cavity (middle), the overall deformation of the pane (right).

References
[1] Feldmeier, F.: Zur Bercksichtigung der Klimabelastung bei der Bemessung von Isolierglas bei berkopfverglasungen. Stahlbau 65 (1996) Heft 8 [2] Technische Regeln fr die Verwendung von linienfrmig gelagerten Verglasungen, Mitteilungen des Deutschen Instituts fr Bautechnik 29 (1998) Heft 6 [3] prEN 13474 Glass in Building Design of glass panes (1999) [4] Feldmeier, F.: Die Statik von Isolierglas. OTTI Fachforum Glas im Bauwesen (2003) [5] Katheder, F.: ber die mechanische Belastbarkeit gekoppelter Glassysteme mit Luft- oder Gaseinschluss. Glastechnische Berichte 31 (1958) Heft 8

Fig 7 Example 4: Observed damage of the convex pane of a curved insulating glass unit caused by low pressure in the cavity.

Example 4
A critical common climatic condition in winter is the combination of high atmospheric pressure and low temperature. If this coincides with a lower altitude the isochore pressure (low pressure) will exceed 10 kPa anyway, about 18 kPa is recommended [3]. Consider a curved insulating glass unit with a rectangular size of 1200 mm x 1000 mm and a crown height of 60 mm. The unit consists of a convex 8 mm glass pane, a concave 10 mm glass pane

and a cavity of 20 mm. For comparison a at insulating glass unit has an insulating glass factor of 0,091 and a climatic load of at least 0,9 kPa. Due to the arch the system should be stiffer and higher climatic loads are estimated. A detailed FEM analysis, see gure 6, gives the deformation and the volume per load. The result is an insulating glass factor of 0,54 (!) and a climatic load of at least 5,4 kPa! Thus the unit will be extremely stressed by climatic loads. The FEM analysis shows also the tension distribution of both panes. In case of low pressure in the cavity the maximum tensile stress will occur at the curved edge of the convex pane. Thus the theory agrees perfectly with the observed damage as shown in gure 7.

Example 5
A line load acting on the pane of an insulating glass unit deforms it and reduces the cavity. The generated overpressure in

Symbols Insulating glass factor a* characteristic length a, b length d thickness p uniformly distributed load pB barometric pressure v volume per load A area of the pane B coefcient E Youngs-modulus Indices i interior pane e exterior pane cav cavity

Unit m m m Pa Pa m3/Pa m Pa

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