Performance of cable-supported glass façades under time-depending wind action

Abstract

Cable supported glass façades are sensitive to wind action because of their flexibility. Conventional laboratory testing to check a façade reliability under the wind action is generally carried out by uniformly air pressure tests. However, the typical wind action on a surface is known to be not uniform because it varies due to building aerodynamics and wind flow turbulence, and this aspect should be properly considered for testing protocols. This paper discusses the structural response of cable-supported glass façades, through time history finite element (FE) analyses, under different wind action combinations that varies based on the building aerodynamics (plan shapes and roof curvatures), the wind direction (0° and 90°), and the glass panel position (up and down). Such a finding is further enforced by the presence of flexible supports for the constituent glass modules. The presented results show a strong dependence of the structural response on the wind action configuration, and thus suggest the need of new testing protocols for similar systems.