REDUNDANCY-BASED SAFETY PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION OF LARGE-SCALE GLASS FACADE STRUCTURES

摘要

Structural integrity of large-scale glass fa(c)ades is imperative for public safety.Different from traditional structures,glass panels are brittle in nature; consequently glass fa(c)ade structures are vulnerable to vertical and horizontal loads.The situation is however exacerbated due to the fact that the space embraced by a glass facade typically is a densely populated public area.Therefore,structural safety of large-scale glass fa(c)ades is one of the major challenges facing today's engineers.To this end,this paper proposes the application of safety performance optimization based on phased-setting-redundancy during the damage course of glass fa(c)ade structures.Two of the most serious damage forms of a glass fa(c)ade structure are progressive collapse and glass falling.To the component damage stage and structure damage stage,strength redundancy and structure redundancy will enhance partial load carrying capacity and integrity of the structure respectively,impeding progressive collapse through providing alternate load paths.During the glass damage phase,redundancy settings based on different timings are useful for keeping glass panels from cracking,falling and injury accident.Considering redundancy-based optimization measures during conceptual design,front-end engineering design and detailed engineering design can improve the reliability and durability of glass fa(c)ade structures.This concept can be adopted to improve long-term performance of glass fa(c)ade structures,develop safe designs under special loads and under impact of disasters.