The main topic of this thesis is the design of arch with components made up of glass and reinforced concrete. Parametric process as well as experiment is carried out in this research. In this thesis, bond strength between glass and fly ash concrete are studied.

Glass is a fascinating material which has been used for load bearing structures in the past decades. The development of structural glass has been moving towards more transparent structures. The thermal properties of glass can be used to create heat bonds. Heat bonds can be produced in two ways: welding and fusing. With welding, the regions that are to be connected are locally heated. With kiln formed fusing, the elements to be bonded will be globally heated in an oven. This results in the research question: What is the best method, among glass welding and kiln formed glass fusing, to produce heat bonded systems for applications in glass structures? In theory, safety measures consist of three basic strategies: creating secondary load transfer mechanisms, protectioning and overdimensioning. These strategies can be used on the scale of the system and the structure. The heat bonded system could theoretically be laminated, reinforced and tempered. On a structural level, safety can be ensured by a combination of the strategies. To produce glass welds, the glass is preheated in an oven. A small opening in the oven is made and a line burner is used to heat the to be welded area from both sides. One element is pressed down on the other to make the connection. The oven is closed and the specimen is annealed. Finite element models have been used to analyze thermal shock failure during the weld production process. The recommendations for production were to use an additional flame on the bottom of the specimen or to maintain the surroundings at elevated temperature. The latter option is applied in the experiments. The results were three transparent, all-glass, soda lime T-shaped objects. Little residual stress remained in the products. The fused objects were globally heated in an oven. The glass was fused in moulds, made of a gypsum plaster. The products were translucent, all-glass, soda lime, T-shaped objects. The objects deformed significantly during production. Little residual stress remained in the products. Throughout the experiments, factors have changed. An aspect with no direct influence on the product was quenching after maximum temperature. Adapting the mould and polishing the glass edges prior to fusing had an influence on the objects' shape or texture. None of the factors influenced the order of magnitude of the deformation or the seam between the elements. A structural test has been performed to compare the specimens with a glass T-shape bonded with transparent UV-curing adhesive. The connections were loaded in shear. The results of the failure loads and stress at failure are of the same order of magnitude. The largest spread was among the fused specimens, the smallest among the welded. The cause of failure is most probably a combination of elevated stress due to the stiffness and support of the test set-up and peak stress due to irregularities on the glass surface. Other causes could have contributed to failure. The welded glass product requires most time, energy, skill and money. The adhesive product requires least time and energy. The welded and fused objects had neither acceptable dimensional accuracy, nor a smooth fillet in the joint. In the current state of development, glass fusion results in less residual stress, requires less skill and is cheaper to produce. Glass welding results in a transparent glass to glass connection and its structural performance is promising. Further research is encouraged into the heat bonded and adhesive connections to create fully transparent connections for structural glass.

This master's graduation project researches the potential of upcycling waste glass into glass-ceramic components through casting techniques and thermal treatments. To explore its potential and possibilities, the process of crystallization, the material glass-ceramic and influencing parameters are studied at first. A glass-ceramic is a glassy yet crystalline material consisting of inorganic and non-metallic compounds. A glass-ceramic can be produced through different controlled crystallization methods, whereas in this research heat treatment of casted components is applied. Upon heat treatment, crystallization occurs when the right temperatures are applied for the two-steps in crystallization; nucleation and crystal growth. Crystallization may occur spontaneously or along preferential sites, whereas this research makes use of the latter. Many parameters affect the crystallization process, whereas this research only focusses on glass composition, temperature and dwell time. The parameters are set through literature study and trial and error of melting experiments. This research focusses on the crystallization of soda-lime-silica bottle glass, the results of each melting experiment show the effect of the parameters. Each glass from another manufacturing has another glass composition. The amounts of glass formers, modifiers and fluxes are various, resulting in diverse temperature curves and thus diverse melting temperatures and crystallization temperatures. Through the melting experiments are noticeable that the applied melting temperature were of bigger influence than the crystallization temperature. A melting temperature too low resulted in an undesired fused sample, while a too high melting temperature resulted in no or little preferential sites for crystallization to occur. Through the results of the splitting experiment the mechanical characteristics could be observed, which are fracture toughness and fracture behaviour in this research. The fracture toughness seems better of samples with a higher quality crystal polymorph or with a higher amount of crystallinity or high amounts of glassy phases, whereby the material acts as one material upon loading rather than as a composite. While for samples with little and unconnected crystallization it does not seem to benefit its fracture toughness. The fracture propagation through glassy and crystalline phases is very different. A fracture propagation through a glassy phase is conchoidal, while the fracture propagation in the crystalline phase follows the crystalline structure, reaching its extremities or can be conchoidal, depending on the crystal polymorph. Observable from the fracture propagation from glassy to crystalline and from crystalline back to glassy is the discontinuity. The crystal or crystalline surface acts like an obstacle once the failure propagation reaches from the glassy phase. The failure does propagate but once it continues over to the glassy phase again, a change in energy and direction is noticeable. All by all, there do is potential in upcycling waste glass into structural cast glass-ceramic components. Crystallization does influence the fracture toughness and fracture behaviour in a cast glass-ceramic component, but the effect is highly dependent on the amount and distribution of glassy and crystalline phases.

Glass is a versatile material applied in a large number of industries. It can for example be found in everyday household items, inside high tech machines or it can be used as part of mechanical structures in buildings. This research focuses on using structural cast glass components for a dome design forming a sustainable living habitat for Lori parrots in a moderate climate while being minimum invasive for the local environment

The search for a transparent, reversible, and reusable consolidation system for monuments led to the ambition to test possible cast glass interlocking brick designs using numerical calculations. The focus of this research is hence the design, simulation and evaluation of a possible cast glass interlocking geometry using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). For this purpose, design criteria are formulated from literature; considering glass, polyurethane (used as interlayer) and interlocking systems. As interlocking systems are determined by their boundary conditions, a case study of a monument is chosen to provide additional design criteria. The goal of the case study is to provide a reversible and reusable restoration and consolidation alternative for the current invalid restorations. The design criteria obtained then are combined into an initial geometry, whose parameters are varied to test their sensitivity to its shear capacity, using FEA. Christensen’s failure criterion is used to locate prone areas in the geometry, and to evaluate the theoretical moment of failure. This output value combines the three principal stresses into a failure envelope, hence can generate contour plots to envision peak-stress-prone areas. This is important especially for glass structures, as they are prone to peak tensile stresses. From the results design diagrams are created and applied on a conceptual cast glass interlocking consolidation design for the monument chosen as case study: The Lichtenberg Castle ruin. The initial design is moreover prototyped to check its interlocking capabilities, residual stresses and deviations introduced by shrinkage. Being able to evaluate possible geometries using FEA can decrease costs and time when searching for a new interlocking geometry. Prone areas are easily highlighted using the Christensen’s failure criterion output. Hence peak stress sensitive or invalid geometries can be discarded before reaching the prototyping stage, which is time consuming and costly. The creation of a methodology to predict this behaviour is hence valuable for further research on other cast glass geometries and can moreover be applied in any other field when analysing solid complex geometries. Another goal is to find a cast glass brick design which not only can consolidate the monument of the case study, but is moreover applicable in other projects or configurations. The brick then is not a one-solution design, but can be reused in other projects. The geometry hence is varied using Grasshopper plug-in for Rhinoceros. By exporting the geometry using a STEP-file, a solid can be loaded into DIANA FEA, where it can be analysed using their newly implemented output value of the Christensen’s failure criterion. The geometry of the monument is gained through a 3D laser scan, resulting in a point cloud. The point cloud is adapted using Autodesk Recap, then further processed in Rhinoceros. The Christensen’s failure criterion output is a proper and fast way to evaluate possible cast glass brick designs. Any compressive stresses on the interlocking brick geometry are beneficial for its shear capacity, as is an increase in interlocking amplitude or brick height. Increasing the amplitude however affects the allowable tolerance negatively, which is also the case for a decrease in brick height. Decreasing the brick height hence results in both negative effects. The conceptual design for consolidation of the Lichtenberg Castle tower can replace the current interventions with equal or higher capacity, even for all conservative assumptions and simplifications. The design can still be altered less conservative after more experimental results and simulations come available. The methodology applied can now be further developed and performed on other complex geometry designs. The presented multifunctional cast glass interlocking brick design, and its variations can be further investigated and applied in other projects.

Dense urbanization increases the demand on the building sector who is responsible, on the one hand for producing large amounts of landfilled glass waste, and on the other for consuming the earth’s natural resources and release additional CO2 emissions, for the manufacture of new architectural glass. These unfavorable conditions together with the already apparent effects of climate change, demand resourceful solutions for adaptive and resilient cities, that utilize current waste and require low maintenance and low costs, to be implemented universally. This, can only be ensured by letting nature to take over. Unexploited urban facades have a key role to provide this new ground that can be colonized by microorganisms, creating a microclimate by forming an outer green layer growing on its own. Aiming this, materials covering our urban facades need to be transformed to porous hosts by retaining rainwater and providing the right environment for bio-growth to take place. This research aims to discover new ways that unutilized glass waste can be upcycled into bioreceptive applications, that form a promising set of criteria. By shedding light firstly on the specific material properties needed, the method of glass foaming is chosen to be investigated, as the means to provide an open porous network that can incorporate large amounts of waste into its recipe. An experimental approach has been designed to explore the parameters related to the mixture, manufacturing process affecting the glass foam’s microstructure and potential biofilm formation by producing a total of 22 samples in the Glass lab in Stevin lab, TU Delft. These specimens were not foamed at once, but gradually being tested first of all, microscopically, to reveal the porosity network and secondly, with a series of quick tests related to their hydraulic performance, providing feedback for the next batch of samples regarding the most promising recipes to be further explored. All the samples were tested for their water absorption, evaporation rate and frosting resistance, while only the higher-scored specimens were put under test for moss-growth and compressive strength. Apart from the experimental analysis, the next steps towards a product development were also explored by setting the bioreceptive design principles for manufacturing the meso-scale surface. Limitations in adjusting these guidelines to the way glass-foam is produced are addressed with possible solutions as suggestions for further experimentation. In addition, an application catalogue was composed as schematic recommendations to showcase the potential of bio-host glass. Combining this idea to the material science, these applications were also approached from an engineering view to analyze the material properties’ specific demands per product. This tool, can prove to be beneficial both in the hands of the future designer and material researcher to have a starting point on what needs to be further developed, depending on the chosen product out of bioreceptive glass-foam. Taking the most immediately feasible example of a façade tile, based on the findings of the aforementioned analysis, during the last part of this project, a methodology for designing and implementing the new material into the urban environment is proposed. By informing the design of the macro-scale with weather data, precipitation levels can be exploited, in order to provide the maximum water content for the benefit of bioreceptivity. Therefore, the novelty of this thesis, aspires by providing a holistic approach, based on the knowledge obtained both in the literature review and the conducted experiments, to stir not only bio-growth on our cities, but also innovative thinking and exploration on ways to combat the increasing landfill waste.

To reach the European Union climate targets of 2020 the rate of refurbishment must increase. The problem is that there are many barriers to refurbishment, which causes a low rate and low quality. The objective is to overcome these barriers and stimulate facade refurbishment. This thesis looks at the improvement, that can be made when replacing an existing skin by a new facade focusing on improving the structural efficiency and touch upon building physics. The main driving forces of this thesis are parametric design and optimisation. A parametric design is crucial for this thesis to perform a variation study. Different shapes of the facade are simulated with a custom made genetic algorithm to optimise the shape of the facade. First of all, the cost can be influenced by minimising the amount of material by altering: cross-sections, beam distances, etc. Secondly, by changing the shape of the facade a more aerodynamic building can be created. When the curvature increases, the wind load can be reduced which can make the structure more efficient. The wind load on the facade is determined with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The part about building physics focusses on ventilation. A ventilation system is designed which emphasises the importance of integrating the ventilation system with the second skin. The design builds upon the results of the CFD simulation and the structural model. The performance of the system is quantified by determining the usage of natural resources.

The high compressive strength of the material glass in combination with its transparency, make it an attractive material to use for a column. Though different types and configurations of glass columns have been subject of academic research, a demountable glass column made from laminated components remains unexplored. This structural concept allows for modular and temporary structures with incorporated structural safety. Assembly and demounting is quick and the smaller, laminated components give the column sufficient redundancy. Glass however, is notorious for its low tensile strength and brittle failure. Also, a column made from interlocking components introduces stability problems. A comprehensive understanding of this new type of glass column is necessary before application in the built environment is possible. So far, no numerical analysis has been conducted on columns made up of interlocking laminated elements, while this analysis can help understand the stability, force distribution and stress concentrations of such a system. The main objective of this research is to obtain a feasible all-glass column design. This is achieved by using a Finite Element Analysis(FEA) to investigate: stability, force distribution and stress concentrations. Furthermore, a variety of design aspects and trade-offs are discussed in detail. These structural and design considerations are used to iterate the column design and to propose a combination of parameters that leads to a feasible design. The FEA investigates the following structural parameters: component dimension, roof ballast load, façade stiffness and interlayer thickness. Different combinations of investigated parameters lead to a feasible, functioning column designs. The column is able to horizontally displace up to 9,1mm before becoming unstable. The heavier ballast load of 1,2kN/m2 is desired over the minimal value of 0,6kN/m2. The column is unable to take up a significant amount of the total horizontal case study load for all investigated component widths. It can take up up to 39% of the vertically applied load when a minimal amount of soft interlayers is used. The tensile stress concentrations stay within the allowable limits. The different design aspects investigated include: material constraints, fabrication limitations, safety and redundancy and assembly. Each laminated component is made of up 3x15mm thick annealed float glass plates, and is fit with a sacrificial layer on either side for protection. The glass plates are water jet cut into the desired shape and then laminated together to form the component. The shape of the interlock is gradual end rounded in order to prevent (tensile) peak stresses. The risk of damage has been minimised. Moreover, the glass column has sufficient redundancy because the laminated components retain sufficient bearing capacity in case of damage. Also, the structural glass façade serves as secondary loading path in the case of severe damage. This research serves as a starting point for future research and possible real-life application of a novel type of interlocking glass column. This type of column can be applied in demountable structures. Combinations of parameters have been proposed that result in a feasible, functioning column. Recommendations have been set up to improve future iterations of columns with a similar design.

The objective of this research is to investigate the possibilities of creating an algorithmic design for structural glass covers, to create an innovative methodology with a broad spectrum of potential applications. The methodology should stimulate the easy use of glass as a structural material. It should also contribute to the bridging of the gap between architects and structural engineers and take advantage of the potential of parametric design for architectural and structural purposes.