Mitigation of blast resistant glazing façades supported by prestressed cables by using dissipative devices

The paper presents the results of several studies, performed at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Trieste, related to the development of a dissipative system capable to absorb part of the blast‐induced stresses exerted against a glass‐steel curtain wall supported by prestressed cables. In particular, in order to mitigate the structural damages of the critical components constituting a glass‐steel façade, dissipative devices are installed at the base and in the top of the system of vertical cables connected to the spiders supporting the laminated glass panes. The aim is to improve the blast reliability and the mechanical performances of the glass‐steel curtain wall façade. In the paper, several solutions are numerically investigated. By means of many dynamic nonlinear analyses, the most advantageous solution is individuated.