Development of Design Methodology for Rectangular Glass Supported on Three Sides to Resist Lateral Uniformly Distributed Loads

The forthcoming version of Practice to Determine the Load Resistance of Glass in Buildings (E 1300-02) will contain several new features. These include new procedures to determine load resistance of laminated glass, revised procedures to determine load resistance of insulating glass, and procedures to determine load resistance of rectangular glass supported on 1, 2, and 3 sides. This paper discusses the development of load resistance charts for rectangular glass supported on three sides with one side free. It presents the nonlinear finite element model used to determine stresses and deflections. The load resistance charts use maximum edge stress as the criterion for determining load resistance. The value of maximum edge stress derives from a failure prediction approach for glass edges rather than surface stresses. The paper describes load-induced stresses along the edge of an unsupported side and over the glass surface for glass supported along three sides. It compares probability of breakage based upon surface stresses with that derived from the maximum edge stress criterion.