Improving the dynamic response of multi-storey buildings via protective glazing curtain walls

Glazing facades are widely used in building structures, due to a series of aesthetic, thermal, lightening aspects. From a structural point of view, under the action of exceptional loads as impacts, explosions, seismic events or hazards in general, the glazing envelopes often represent the critical component for multi-storey buildings, due to the typically brittle behaviour and limited tensile resistance of the glass panes, hence requiring specific, fail-safe design concepts. In this paper, the feasibility and potential of special mechanical connectors interposed at the interface between a given multi-storey primary building structure and the glazing facade are investigated via accurate Finite-Element numerical models, under various impact scenarios. As shown, the final result is an assembled structural system in which the facade can work as passive control system for the primary structure, in the form of a distributed tuned-mass damper (TMD).