The European regulatory body for building glass is enriched with two new fixed points.
EN 16612: 2019 and EN 16613: 2019

The European regulatory body for building glass is enriched with two new fixed points.

On December 5, 2019, the UNI EN 16612 (Glass for building – Determination of the resistance of glass sheets to lateral loads by means of calculation) and the directly related UNI EN 16613 (Building glass – Laminated glass and glass layered safety – Determination of the mechanical properties of the interlayer) was published on the official UNI (Italian National Unification – Italian Standardization Commitee) website.

The publication of the two standards unequivocally highlights the fact that the polymer of stratification plays a fundamental role in the behavior of multilayer glass and that the properties of the latter are far from constant and invariable.

On the other hand and with good reason, the Technical Document CNR DT210: 2013, based on the EET model, allows to take into account the rigidity of the interlayer in the design of multilayer glass elements for structural applications and this is certainly acceptable if the goal is a thorough and careful planning.

The UNI EN 16613: 2019 standard defines the characterization methods of the layering polymers so that thecomparison between the behaviors of different interlayers takes place “on equal terms”.

The UNI EN 16612: 2019 standard, on the other hand, in addition to taking up the classifications of the layering interlayers and their categorizations reported in UNI EN 16613: 2019, provides the design criteria for non-structural elements such as infill, allowing the user to define a more favorable calculation of the strength of the glass compared to the codes intended for the design of glass elements with structural use.

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