A finite element based design tool for point fixed laminated glass

Abstract: In this master’s project, a design tool for bolt fixed laminated glass was developed, based on linear-elastic finite element theory. The program produces images of the deflections and stress distributions in bolted glass panes. A two-dimensional triangular mesh, created by an external mesh generator, was extended to a three-dimensional mesh comprising 15-node wedge elements. A least-square method was adopted for extrapolating stresses from Gaussian sample points to the element nodes. A simple graphical user interface was developed in the programming language Python, as well as a simple post-processor employing the graphics library OpenGL.