Glass Balustrade Design according to prEN 16612

Forces acting on balustrade:

An uniform load of P = 0.75kN/m is distributed along the rail at a height of h = 1.1 m.
Design uniform load is:
UDLult = P ∙ γq = 750 ∙ 1.5 = 1.13 kN/m
Design distributed bending moment is:
BMult = UDLult ∙ h = 1125 ∙ 1.1 = 1.24 kN∙m/m
Glass strength evaluation:
ksp = 1
The selected type is float glass.
6 6
fb;k = 120 ∙ 10 = 120 ∙ 10 = 120 N/mm2
The glass is thermally toughned.
kmod = 0.77 = 0.77 = 0.77
The structural material chosen is surface prestressed glass, made from Soda Lime Silicate Glass.
The characteristic strength is 45 MPa.
6 6
kmod ∙ ksp ∙ fg;k kv ∙ fb;k − fg;k 0.77 ∙ 1 ∙ 45∙106 1 ∙ 120∙10 − 45∙10
fg;d = + = + = 81.8 N/mm2
γΜ;A γΜ;v 1.8 1.2
Determination of thickness of glass required based on design strength:
81.8∙106
M/W ≤ 6 N/mm2
10
Wrequired ≥ 15138mm3/m
Thickness required: (1000 mm * t 2)/6 ≥ 15138mm3/m
Theoretical thickness required is: t ≥ 9.53mm.
The effective thickness of the glass when considering deflection due to bending is:
1 1
hef;w = sum3 + 12 ∙ ω ∙ sum2 3 = 3.46∙10-6 + 12 ∙ 0.1 ∙ 864∙10-9 3
= 16.5 mm
The effective thickness of laminated glass in terms of stress within ply number 1 is:
hj = Combi[1].h = 0.012 = 12 mm
hj 0.012
hm = hm − = 0.012 − = 6 mm
2 2
3 3
hef;w 0.0165
hef;σ;j = = = 18.4 mm
hj + 2 ∙ ω ∙ hm 0.012 + 2 ∙ 0.1 ∙ 6∙10-3
Total laminated glass package thickness is:
ttotal = intreg + tinterlayer = 0.024 + 1.1∙10-3 = 25.1 mm
3 3
m ∙ hef;w 1 ∙ 0.0165
l= = = 374400 mm4/m
12 12
E = 70 GPa
P∙h 750 ∙ 1.1
δ= = = 10.5 mm
3 ∙ E ∙ l 3 ∙ 70∙109 ∙ 374∙10-9
*The deflection does not take into account the rotation of the fixing,
which needs to be assesed as part of the entire balustrade assembly.
Deflection check
Displacements OK √
Displacements usage is 42%.
Post-failure check
In the event that one of the pannels fails, the handrail will span over the panel that has broken and
share load into the adjacent one. In order to maintain the integrity of the balustrade,
the remaining glass pane will have to support the load from the handrail.

Aditional load from balustrade/handrail

L ∙ P ∙ γq 2 ∙ 750 ∙ 1.5
F= = = 1.13 kN
2 2
The reaction is spread over 1.1 m, which leads to a distributed load of:
F 1125
qa = = = 1.02 kN/m
h 1.1
This action is additive to the one that was originally applied,
UDLult2 = UDLult + qa = 1125 + 1023 = 2.15 kN/m
Applied bending moment
M = h ∙ UDLult2 = 1.1 ∙ 2148 = 2.36 kN∙m/m
Determine bending resistance
Elastic Modulus
2 2
m ∙ hef;σ;j 1 ∙ 0.0184
W= = = 56727 mm3/m
6 6
M 2363
σmax = = = 41.6 N/mm2
W 56.7∙10-6
The glass has cut, arrised or ground edges.
ke = 0.8 = 0.8 = 0.8
The extreme edge design strength is:
feg;d = ke ∙ fg;d = 0.8 ∙ 81.8∙106 = 65.4 N/mm2
Stress check
σ max < f g;d √
Unity check is 0.637.
No deflection check is required as this condition is post-failure and serviceability limits do not apply.