Thickness dimensioning of water flow glazing facades

Abstract

The fluid inside water fluid glazing facades creates a linear distribution pressure along the vertical direction. Hence, the glazings must be designed to with stand pressure loads satisfying deflection and stresses requirements given by the norms and standards. The straightforward solution is to increase the glass thickness until the deflection is below the required limit. This implies an increase in weight and amount of material rising the price of the glazing, which is undesirable. Therefore, pillars or stripes can be considered as an alternative solution to limit glass deflection.
In order to ensure that the structural behavior requirements are fulfilled, a proper mathematical model and simulation must be carried out. The elastic plate model must be sufficiently detailed to retain the most relevant physical aspects of the process but simple enough not to over dimension the problem. To solve the mathematical model, it was necessary to apply a numerical method to the partial differential equations resultant. For this task a High Order Finite Difference Method (HOFM) was implemented for both linear and non-linear models, which led to satisfactory results from the viewpoint of the accuracy of the solution.
From the development of the structural model and simulation for Water Flow Glazings thickness dimensioning two conclusions were extracted. First, the plate model was sufficient to dimension the glazings and second, the presence of pillars or stripes permits to reduce significantly the thickness dimension. Hence, introducing pillars or stripes is considered an effective solution to solve the hydrostatic pressure problem and lead to a more efficient design of Water Flow Glazings.