Safety aspects of point-fixed glass constructions

Dr.-Ing. Barbara Siebert, Ingenieurbüro Dr. Siebert, Consulting engineers office for civil engineering

Point fixings become more and more a standard element for construction with glass like facades, overhead glazing or railings. E.g. for applications with both sided discs many experience exists. But meanwhile many products with different kind of construction like countersunk or undercut systems are on the market.

To get a secure construction, some important points like correct static calculation and sufficient load carrying capacity have to be considered. First an overview is given about the requirements for structural elements of glass depending on the kind of application. Comments about static calculation, load capacity of point fixing and residual resistance are given. Finally an example of a new innovative point fixing is presented. An often wish of the architects are point fixings with plane surface, no or minimized visible fixings also for overhead glazing. Because of poor results in testing to guarantee sufficient safety and residual resistance after fracture, this application was not possible. So a new generation of countersink point fixings was developed for a safe application in conical drillings. Main design and safety aspects and results of independent testing in laboratory to verify sufficient residual resistance are presented as well as architectural aspects.

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The Authors

Mrs. Barbara Siebert Dr.-Ing. Ingenieurbüro Dr. Siebert Barbara Siebert, born 1967, received her civil engineering degree from TU München. Her doctor’s thesis about the calculation of point helded glasses was accepted 2003. After some years as employee ... Read more