Bearing capacity of tempered glass panel in point supported glass facades against in-plane load

Tempered glass panels in the point supported glass facade (PSGF) are usually subjected to large in-plane load. In order to investigate the bearing capacity of tempered glass panels against in-plane load, three tests are firstly carried out. Afterwards, finite element method (FEM) is adopted to study stresses around holes under different loading conditions and explore the influence of the in-plane load on the stress distribution of the glass panel. It is concluded that stresses around holes in tempered glass panels are principally affected by the in-plane load, while stresses at centers of the surface and edges are mainly controlled by the out-of-plane load. When the in-plane load is relatively high, the out-of-plane load is probably able to reduce stresses at some points around holes, contributing to the improvement of the load-bearing capacity of tempered glass panels. If the in-plane load is large enough, specimens are bound to experience state transitions which are caused by large plastic deformation of stainless steel bolt fittings and result in the rapid increase of stresses on glass panels. Therefore, by enhancing the shear strength of bolt fittings one can improve the bearing capacity of tempered glass panels in the PSGF against the in-plane load.