FRAMELESS GLASS – OVERHEAD GLAZING INCLUDING SLOPE GLAZING & CANOPY

Frameless glass overhead glazing is subject to wind, live seismic and snow loads. These loadings cause vertical and sideways movements of the building elements including glazing. It is essential at the design stage that the above factors are taken into account.

Frameless glass overhead glazing point supported glazing system – i.e. each glass panel is point supported at and near its corners when under loading the glass panel to flex and bend, twist and shear at the fixing points.

To avoid undue stress build-up concentrated at the point supported corners of the glass panel, an articulated swivel head assembly is fixed at the supported point.

Australian Glass Assemblies Pty. Ltd developed and tested a single coupling assembly unit, known as articulated swivel head 32/22 which allows the glass panel to flex freely up to 7 degrees in any direction.

Laboratory tests show that a glass panel fastened with the conventional rigid fixed screw unit, when under applied loads, bending and shear stresses occur around the fixing holes of the glass panel. Whereas the same loads applied to the articulated swivel head 32/22 show that the total stress around the hole is 70% less than the conventional fixed unit and no bending stress a the glass hole was detected on the tests.

En-Trap (ET) Laminated Glass
Australian Glass Assemblies, in co-operation with a glass processing company has developed and produced an En-Trap (ET) laminated glass panel – leaving one piece of glass free from holes, as a result the ET laminated point supported glass panel is created.

Insulated Glass Point Supported Unit
The ET laminated glass panel is successfully made into Insulated Glass Units (IGU) or Double Glazed Units (DGU).

The ET laminated glass unit was exhibited on the Glass Wholesales Inc. stand at the Glass Building-America Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia, USA in March 2003.

The visiting architects commented that the unit is ideal for overhead glazing which would eliminate the problem of water leakage and streak markings around the holes. Others suggested that when laminated with a self-cleaning glass there will be a saving on glass cleaning maintenance bills.

In conclusion, ET laminated point supported glass panels are a product which offers the designer and owner advantages one should not overlook.

Canopy Steel Fin (or rib)
Canopy Glass Fin (or rib)