Long span glass fin design

John Kooymans, Halcrow Yolles, Toronto Canada & Dr. Jens Schneider, Dr. Holger Techen, University of Applied Sciences, Frankfurt

Structural glass fins have been utilized in creating transparent wall systems all over the world. High fin walls have always been a challenge due to limitations in glass sizes for both tempered glass and laminated glass. This paper will look at a unique concept to create structural glass fins for an 18 meter high glass wall while eliminating the traditional steel splice plates at the glass joints.
The system is simple in principal. It uses simple statics, cantilevered connections at the base and top of the fin, and simple span construction in the center portion of the fin. The challenges are created by the shear magnitude of the elements and ensuring the final design is economical to build.
Through computer modeling and physical testing, this glass fin design allows for shallower fin depths than for conventional fin designs. It maximizes transparency and alleviates the requirement for unsightly steel connection plates at the splice locations. The critical issues to be addressed are constructability, safety, and stability, with the safety issue being addressed by the use of redundant layers of glass. This system can also be used for glass beam or fin designs of varying lengths and cantilever proportions.

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