Cold bending of laminated glass panels

J. Belis¹, B. Inghelbrecht², R. Van Impe¹, D. Callewaert¹
¹ Laboratory for Research on Structural Models, Ghent University, Belgium
² CEI – De Meyer, Nazareth, Belgium

Curved glass can be applied in an interesting way in e.g. facades and canopies. Traditionally, curved glass is manufactured from float glass that is heated above the weakening point and formed in a heavy curving mould. This technique is time- and energy consuming and consequently relatively expensive. For this reason, a more affordable alternative has been developed. Since this technique is used to bend glass plates on the building site at room temperature, it is called a "cold bending process". The process implies that toughened float glass laminates are gradually bent on a curved frame. Finally, the newly curved panel is mechanically fixed to the frame, which implies that the glass stays continuously subjected to bending stresses during its lifetime. In this contribution, time dependent loading-deformation interaction during the bending process as well as relaxation after the bending process are closely examined. An experimental and a numerical research method have been used in a complementary way.

Key words: Curved glass, cold bending, visco elasticity

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	Cold bending of laminated glass panels J. Belis¹, B. Inghelbrecht², R. Van Impe¹, D. Callewaert¹ ¹ Laboratory for Research on Structural Models, Ghent University, Belgium ² CEI – De Meyer, Nazareth, Belgium Curved glass can be applied in an interesting way in e.g. facades and canopies. Traditionally, curved glass is manufactured from float glass that is heated above the weakening point and formed in a heavy curving mould. This technique is time- and energy consuming and consequently relatively expensive. For this reason, a more affordable alternative has been developed. Since this technique is used to bend glass plates on the building site at room temperature, it is called a "cold bending process". The process implies that toughened float glass laminates are gradually bent on a curved frame. Finally, the newly curved panel is mechanically fixed to the frame, which implies that the glass stays continuously subjected to bending stresses during its lifetime. In this contribution, time dependent loading-deformation interaction during the bending process as well as relaxation after the bending process are closely examined. An experimental and a numerical research method have been used in a complementary way. Key words: Curved glass, cold bending, visco elasticity