Role of secondary components in the numerical analysis and in-plane seismic performance assessment of glass curtain walls

Glass façades are complex mechanical systems, in which brittle and vulnerable glass panels interact with metal members and secondary components. Under extreme design actions, such as seismic events, glass failure in tension (cracking) or compression (crushing) is a critical condition for structural performance assessment. Compared to full-scale experiments, in this regard, Finite Element (FE) numerical tools can offer a robust support in design. Besides, many primary and secondary façade components should be properly taken into account, because responsible of possible major approximations in their expected mechanical interactions. In this paper, the in-plane seismic response of glass curtain walls is investigated with geometrically accurate and detailed (“MREF”) or simplified and efficient (“MSIMP”) numerical models. Comparative results are critically discussed, based on dynamic numerical simulations, with a primary attention which is focused on the mechanical performance of glass panels.