Tests of Glass Banister Panels with Embedded Laminated Connections

Trends in modern architecture are heading towards a complete transparency of structures, which makes glass a very popular building material. However, achieving a completely transparent look of a structure may be problematic mainly due to glass elements connections. The connections must be capable of bearing all stresses performing during the lifetime period and meet high aesthetical standards at the same time. An embedded laminated point connection represents a progressive glass fixing systems. An ongoing research of the Czech Technical University in Prague is focused on the characteristics of this type of connection. Within this research, a set of real-scale laminated banister panels with two sets of embedded point connections was tested. The experiment showed the way of collapse and a short-term resistance of a laminated glass panel with two sets of embedded point connections under vertical loads.