Evaluation of wind resistance performance for hidden frame glass curtain walls based on digital image correlation technique

In order to characterize the asymmetric deflection deformation of panels in hidden frame glass curtain wall under complex boundary conditions and wind loads, the digital image correlation technique was employed on the curtain wall sample and realized the non-contact full-field flexural deformation measurement. A set of comprehensive evaluation methods for wind resistance performance of glass curtain wall based on the normal distance on the flexural surface of the glass panel, the Gaussian curvature, the surface principal strain and the strain energy density distribution was accordingly proposed by reconstructing the flexural morphology of the panel. The calculation results show that under the situation of initial deflection morphology and structural coupling effect, the maximum surface normal distance of panel after deflection is 6.02 mm, which is less than the current standard experimental calculations. Therefore, the curtain wall is actually more resistant to the wind load; The corner regions of the panel are deformed as a hyperbolic paraboloid, which also have potential safety hazards, with the maximum in-plane principal strain occurred in the upper left corner in 257 με. Therefore, this method not only avoids the shortcomings of the traditional instrument limited by the measured results of specified point, but also demonstrates the full-field spatiotemporal dynamic behavior of the glass panel deformation, which provides a convenient and effective method for characterizing the wind resistance performance of the hidden frame glass curtain wall.