Design of glass fin supported glass walls 1

[ikerdanolcam]

I'm wondering if there is any reference for how to design glass fin/steel rod supported walls. I have some background designing steel mast supported glass lites with spider connections, but not with these all glass type walls.
It seems Australian Code AS1288 addresses this; would I find typical construction details as well as design approaches in this reference? I haven't found any equivalent US references beyond ASTM 1300 which I believe only deals with out of plane loading for individual lites. Am I missing something?
I really appreciate any guidance.

 

[hokie66]

AS1288 addresses the glass design, including design of fins and structural silicone connections. To my knowledge, it does not address things like steel rod supports or details for steel connectors, etc.

AS1288 is available from saiglobal.com. I think it is about $250. 149 pages in the Standard and amendment, and 213 pages of thickness tables for the different types of glass with different wind loadings.

 

[ikerdanolcam]

Thanks for confirming that, hokie. Do you know if US jurisdictions accept facade designed with this code?

 

[unclesyd]

Here is a lead to a little information on the fin Systems.

I spoke with my local glass guru who stated that he has only been around a couple of installations, the last was inside as part of an atrium. His company has never installed a system.

http://www.structuralglass.com/gfs.php

 

[dik]

Thanks, Unk...

Dik

 

[ikerdanolcam]

Wow, I'm a little surprised ISG hasn't installed any of them.
At this point what I'm wondering about is the design of the vertical tension rods. The fins obviously need to be designed for tension loads for positive wind loads, so are the rods empirically designed to tighten the assembly? Or are they for canopy loads?
Thanks again!

 

[hokie66]

I don't understand how your system is supposed to work. What do the "vertical tension rods" do? A sketch would help.

 

[ikerdanolcam]

hokie,
I'm not entirely sure yet, either.
Basically instead of just silicon/fin mullions, there's a threaded rod embeded. I believe this would be to support a canopy, but it was a typical detail, not just at the canopy locations. I may come back and post a detail in the next week once I see if I will be involved in this or not.
In the meantime, do you know if the Australian code provisions are accepted in the US?

 

[hokie66]

I am not aware of what, if any, US code provisions would allow the use of a foreign standard. Best to get an answer from someone there. But in general, most codes allow for alternative methods of design based on application of engineering fundamentals.