Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a
blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Structures and Buildings 169 March 2016 Issue SB3
Pages 223232 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jstbu.14.00057
Paper 1400057
Received 17/06/2015
Accepted 17/07/2015
Published online 25/09/2015
Keywords: buildings, structures & design/cables & tendons/
dynamics
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Smart glazed cable facade

subjected to a blast loading
Filipe Amarante dos Santos PhD

Chiara Bedon PhD

Professor of Civil Engineering, CEris, ICIST, Faculdade de Cincias e

Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Quinta da Torre, Caparica,
Portugal

Professor of Civil Engineering, Department of Engineering and

Architecture, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

Corneliu Cismasiu PhD

Professor of Civil Engineering, CEris, ICIST, Faculdade de Cincias e
Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Quinta da Torre, Caparica,
Portugal

This paper investigates the dynamic behaviour of cable-supported glazing facades subjected to medium-level air blast
loads. Preliminary numerical studies are carried-out in SAP2000 by means of a geometrically refined and simplified
lumped-mass finite-element numerical model, in order to assess the major effects of the design blast load in the main
facade components. As shown, both the glass panels and the cable system are able to properly accommodate the
incoming impulsive loads, typically involving extreme deflections and high tensile stresses. In order to mitigate the
effects of blast pressures on the glazing system, an innovative and particularly efficient active control system is
proposed. The control system implemented in the glazed cable facade is based on a proportional-integral-derivative
(PID) control algorithm, in which the control variable is the tension in the cables.

Notation
A
c
D
d
E
f
h
Kcr
k
l
m
P0
Pcr
Ps0
P s0
p
pt
p
R
T
T0
t
tA
td
u

area (m2)
damping coefficient (N s/m)
released energy (J)
distance (m)
modulus of elasticity (Pa)
frequency (Hz)
height (m)
critical gain
stiffness (N/m)
length (m)
mass (kg)
ambient pressure (Pa)
critical period (s)
maximum overpressure peak (Pa)
maximum underpressure peak (Pa)
blast pressure (Pa)
external force in the glass pane (Pa)
external torque in the glass pane (Pa)
radial distance (m); restoring force (N)
force in a cable (N)
initial force in a cable (N)
time (s)
blast arrival time (s)
decay time from the maximum overpressure peak to
the ambient pressure (s)
displacement (m)
Poisson ratio
density (kg/m3)
damping ratio

1.

Introduction

Glazed cable facades are a type of flat structural system in

which the cables are responsible for the primary load-bearing
function of the facade. The capacity of glazed cable facades to
transmit loads perpendicular to their surface is based on their
ability to accommodate large deformations, associated with
a non-linear geometric behaviour. In order to control these deformations, it is necessary that the cable system is pre-stressed.
In this type of glazing system, the transparent planar surface
(i.e. glass panes) functions mainly as a simple enclosing element. The additional stiffness provided by the glass panes is
not usually taken into account in the design of these facades.
However, as the structural stiffness of the facade is largely controlled by the geometric non-linearity of the cables, if the
deflection of the cables is significant, it becomes questionable
whether the stiffness of the glass panels can still be ignored
(Feng et al., 2007; Shi et al., 2010). Furthermore, as the
damping ratio of the glass panes ( 35%) is far larger than the
damping provided by the cable system, the overall damping of
the glazed cable facade mainly depends on the glass panels
themselves (Feng et al., 2012). This effect is beneficial to the
glazed cable facade, as it permits the dynamic response under
dynamic loads to be controlled.
The behaviour of glazed cable facades subjected to various
types of dynamic loading has been addressed in several studies.
While their behaviour to wind and seismic loading was
reported by Sucuoglu and Vallabhan (1997) and Feng and his
co-workers (Feng et al., 2009, 2012), the effect of blast loads

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Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

was investigated by Amadio and Bedon (2012). In order to

mitigate potential hazards due to explosive loads, several passive control devices have been proposed (Amadio and Bedon,
2012, 2013). Their design was carefully considered in order to
take into account the fact that both the cables and the glass
panes are particularly prone to brittle collapse, and, therefore,
may compromise the overall safety and stability of the facade.
Several passive control approaches to mitigate the potentially
dangerous effects of explosions on the structural behaviour of
the cables and the glass panes were proposed in the final
studies mentioned above (Amadio and Bedon, 2012, 2013).
Both of these components are particularly prone to brittle behaviour, which can compromise the overall safety of the
facade.
The main objective of this study was the proposal of an active
control system that continuously monitors the tension in the
cables of a glazed facade and is able to keep it within a set of
prescribed values during a local explosion event. In addition,
the proposed active control system will also mitigate the associated stresses in the glass panes, aiming to avoid their failure.
Passive systems, such as the ones reported in Amadio and
Bedon (2012, 2013), are also able to limit the maximum
tension in the cables and the glass panes, using a sliding mechanism at the cable supports. However, in such systems, once
the sliding mechanism is activated, the structure is unable to
return to its original configuration. In contrast, the main advantage of the proposed active system is the ability of the structure to assume its original configuration, once the blast
loading ceases.

2.

General description of the glazed cable

facade

The proposed glazed cable facade has a total height of 120 m

and a width several times its height (Figure 1). The study of
the facade was undertaken on a 90 m wide central section of
the structure.
The 2000  1500  2056 mm3 glass panes are suspended from
the cable system. Each vertical alignment comprised six sheets,
connected to each other by appropriate point fixing systems,
able to provide a full structural interaction between them
and the cable system, and to avoid possible peaks of stresses
near the connection points (Bernard and Daudeville, 2009;
Vyzantiadou and Avdelas, 2004).
The glass panes consist of a laminated glass section built up
by two 8 mm thick tempered glass sheets and an intermediate
456 mm polyvinyl butyral (PVB) layer. The stainless steel
cables have a nominal diameter of 286 mm and a limit design
force of 350 kN. The initial tension in the cables was defined in
order to control the maximum horizontal deflection of the
facade due to a design wind pressure of 10 kN/m2, leading to
a value of 300 kN. With this initial tension, the maximum
224

Glass pane (20 m 10 m)

Cable
120 m

Point fixing apparatus

Figure 1. General view of a section of the proposed glazed cable

facade

horizontal deflection of the facade due to wind was limited

to 40 mm, which corresponds to a span to deflection ratio of
1/300.

3.

Characterisation of the blast wave

A blast wave is the pressure and flow resulting from a sudden

release of a large amount of energy, usually generated during
an explosion. It is characterised by a layer of compressed air
that expands, at supersonic speed, from an explosive source.
As the wave expands outward from the explosive source, the
overpressure rapidly decays, followed by a blast wind of negative pressure. During this negative phase, a partial vacuum is
created, and air is sucked back towards the centre of the explosion. Blast waves can be potentially harmful to civil engineering structures, especially when located close to the centre of
the explosion source. The simplest form of a blast wave can
be described by the so-called Friedlander waveform profile
(Ngo et al., 2007), in which the blast pressure p(t) is characterised by
1:

pt Ps0 1 





t
t
exp 
td  tA
td  tA

where tA is the arrival time and Ps0 is the maximum overpressure peak. A medium-high level of protection, requiring
costly security measures and conforming to the GSA Security
Criteria (GSA, 1997), was implemented in the examined
facade (level C of the GSA criteria). The blast wave pressure
instantaneously reaches its maximum value (static overpressure
peak Ps0 = 276 kPa) and decays to an ambient level after time

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Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

Ps0 = 276 kPa

P0 = 0

= 374 kPa
Ps0
td tA = 002 s

Ps0

T0

Positive impulse

u1(t)

m1

Negative impulse
P0
Ps0
tA

tA + td

Dynamic response of the glazed cable

facade to the blast wave

To evaluate the importance of the glass panes on the overall

structural behaviour of the glazed cable facade subjected to a
blast load, the two finite-element (FE) models depicted in
Figure 3 were implemented in SAP2000. Model 1 (Figure 3(a))
was three dimensional, including the cables and the glass
panes.
The glass panes were simulated using four-node quadrilateral
shell elements, with six degrees of freedom per node. Due to
the impulsive nature of explosive events, their laminated crosssection was described in the form a full monolithic section
composed of glass and having a total thickness of 2052 mm.
As PVB foils under high-rate instantaneous loads are typically
very stiff (EPVB = 500 MPa), the glass panes were described as
an isotropic linear-elastic material with Eglass = 70 GPa, glass =
023 and glass = 2490 kg/m3 the nominal Youngs modulus,
Poissons ratio and density, respectively. The suspended cables
were simulated using the available cable elements in SAP2000,
assuming a linear-elastic material (Esteel = 130 GPa, steel = 030
and steel = 7850 kg/m3).

u4(t)

m4

td (002 s), as shown in Figure 2. The pressure then decays

further to an underpressure P s0, creating a partial vacuum.
The blast pressure profile along the height of the facade
mainly depends on the amount of explosive, on the shape of
the charge, on the distance of the explosion to the point on the
Earths surface immediately below the point of detonation
(ground zero) and on the distance from the facade itself.
As the aim of the current study was to evaluate the structural
behaviour of a glazed cable facade to a local explosion, the
explosion was assumed to have occurred at ground level, at a
stand-off distance of 70 m. The instantaneous maximum
pressure at any distance R from a perfectly spherical charge is
proportional to D/R 3, where D is the released energy (Bulson,
1997).

u3(t)

m3

Figure 2. Time history of the blast wave pressure

4.

u2(t)

m2

u5(t)

m5

T0
(a)

(b)

Figure 3. Characterisation of the FE models

Based on the elastic catenary formulation to represent the behaviour of slender cables under self-weight, temperature and
strain loading, the cable elements were able to accurately reproduce the non-linear behaviour of the cable net, as well as to
include tension-stiffening and large-deflection effects inherently. The structural interaction between the cables and the
glass panels were simulated by pinned connections.
Model 2 (Figure 3(b)) is a simplified two-dimensional representation in which the glass panes have been taken into
account in the form of equivalent lumped masses mi.
The first five modal shapes and corresponding frequencies of
the facade, as a result of a modal analysis of model 1, are presented in Figure 4. It can readily be observed that, for higherorder modes, as the curvature of the glass panes increases, the
modal shape associated with the cables diverges from that of
the glass panes. The same results, obtained with model 2, are
depicted in Figure 5.
Comparing the outputs of the two modal analyses, one can
see that, as expected, when the overall stiffness (bending and
membrane) of the glass panes is neglected (model 2), the
natural frequencies of the structure decrease. Nevertheless,
the errors associated with this simplification are limited to the
range 3376% for the considered modes. Further dynamic

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Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

(a)

Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

Figure 4. Modal shapes and frequencies of the facade (model 1).

(a) f1 = 304 Hz. (b) f2 = 588 Hz. (c) f3 = 837 Hz. (d) f4 = 1038 Hz.
(e) f5 = 1179 Hz

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 5. Modal shapes and frequencies of the facade (model 2).

(a) f1 = 294 Hz. (b) f2 = 568 Hz. (c) f3 = 803 Hz. (d) f4 = 983 Hz.
(e) f5 = 1096 Hz

226

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(e)

Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

simulations were carried out successively on models 1 and 2, in

order to assess their capabilities to adequately simulate the
response of the glazed facade to the assigned design blast load.

simplify the design of an active control system for the facade,

described in the following sections, the glass panes were simulated as lumped masses placed along the cables.

The effect of a local blast (level C of the GSA criteria), situated at ground zero at a stand-off distance of 7 m from the
facade, was analysed next. The corresponding load profile, p(z),
is illustrated in Figure 6. For model 1, the blast load profile is
considered to be constant within the width of the analysed
facade.

5.

Implementation of the active control in

the facade

5.1 Introduction
A glazed cable facade subjected to a blast wave is a dynamic
system with highly non-linear characteristics. According to
Figure 8, the force Ti in the tensioned cable, produced by
a horizontal displacement ui, of one considered degree of
freedom, can be expressed by (Timoshenko, 1937)

The corresponding dynamic response, in terms of the horizontal displacement of the facade at mid-height and the tension in
the cable system, is shown in Figure 7.

Ti T0 EA

2:

It can be observed that the two models predict similar

dynamic responses to the blast wave, both in terms of horizontal displacements and tension in the cable system. Due to the
lower stiffness of the simplified model (model 2), the corresponding maximum displacements are slightly higher when
compared with the ones predicted by model 1, which are
around 80 mm ( 1/150 of the total span). The predicted maximum tensile force in the cable system is approximately 325 kN,
corresponding to 90% of the limit design strength of the
adopted cables.

q
l 2 u2i  l 2
l

T0

EA 2
u
2l 2 i

where T0 is the initial tensile force in the wire, ui is a small displacement of the mass mi, in the horizontal direction, l is the
length of a cable segment, A is the cross-section of the cable
and E is its modulus of elasticity. In Equation 2, the unit
elongation of the cable due to a displacement ui is approximated by the first term of its Taylor expansion.
The restoring force acting on the mass mi yields readily, so

Analysing the results of the two simulations, it can be concluded

that the dynamic response of the glazed facade, subjected to the
design blast load, can be predicted with a reasonable degree
of accuracy using a lumped mass model. Hence, in order to

T0

3:


EA 2
2ui
2T0
EA
q

u
ui 3 u3i
2l 2 i
l
l
2
2
l ui

Blast wave
T0 + T

T0

u1 (t)
u2 (t)

Ri
z

u3 (t)
u4 (t)

Explosion
u5 (t)
h
d

p (z)
T0

T0 + T

Figure 6. Characterisation of the blast wave profile (h = 0 m,

d = 7 m)

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Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

005

005
u: m

010

u: m

010

005

005

010

010
0

325

325

320

320

315

310

305

305
0

3
t: s

3
t: s
(b)

300

3
t: s

315

310

300

0
330

F: kN

F: kN

330

3
t: s
(a)

(c)

(d)

Figure 7. Response of the facade to the blast: comparison

between models 1 and 2. (a) Displacement time history (model 1).
(b) Displacement time history (model 2). (c) Cable tension time
history (model 1). (d) Cable tension time history (model 2)

Analysing the right-hand side of Equation 3, one can see that,

for the case of very small displacements and when the initial
tension T0 is sufficiently large, the response of the system is
mainly controlled by the linear term in Equation 3. This
means that, under these conditions, the principle of superposition is valid and can be used to estimate the dynamic response
of the system with multiple degrees of freedom. In this case,
the system of differential equations of motion becomes

4:

mi u i cui Ri pi
i 1; N
u1 un u 1 u n 0

where pi represents the nodal force associated with the blast

loading, c = 013 ( = 35%), and
5:

Ri


T0
EA 
ui1 2ui  ui1 3 u3i1 2u3i  u3i1
2l
l

The solutions of these second-order differential equations were

obtained using the ode45 routine Matlabs standard
228

solver for ordinary differential equations, based on a Runge

Kutta algorithm with a variable time step for efficient
computation.
In order to calculate the stresses in the glass panes, subjected
to the blast dynamic loading, a uniform rigid glass pane with
a total mass of m was considered, supported by two springs ki
and ki+1 at the extremities, as represented in Figure 9(a).
By formulating the corresponding equations of motion with
respect to ui and ui+1, Equation 6 is obtained (Chopra, 2001).
6:

 
 



m 2 1
Ri
pt =2  p =l
u i

Ri1
pt =2 p =l
6 1 2 u i1

The equations of motion of the glass panes are coupled

because of mass coupling due to the off-diagonal terms in the
mass matrix. Once pt and p are determined from Equation 6,
the resulting distributed forces, pi and pi+1, shown in
Figure 9(b), can be easily obtained.

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Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

The stresses in the glass panes were calculated for the corresponding loading, using an auxiliary FE model of the
glass pane, as shown in Figure 9(c). This model was used to
determine the stresses generated by a generic trapezoidal
loading.

that, for the considered design scenario, the proposed simplification for the dynamic analysis of a glazed cable facade subjected
to a blast loading is adequate.

5.2 Control algorithm

The results obtained with the proposed simplified model, for the
free set-up, are consistent with those obtained with FE models 1
and 2. In fact, by considering the graphs in Figures 7(a) and 7(d),
with regard to the horizontal displacement and the cable force
time histories, one can see that they are in close agreement with
the corresponding graphs in Figures 10(a) and 10(c). This means

EA

T0

mi1

T0
u
l i

l
mi

ui

T0
u
l i
EA

mi+1

The control system implemented in the glazed cable facade

was based on a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control
algorithm, in which the control variable was the tension in the
cables. The main objective of the proposed control system was
to limit both the tension in the cables and the stresses in the
glass panes. The first control approach to this system was
made by tuning the gains of the controller using the Ziegler
Nichols second-method tuning rules, by calculating the critical
gain Kcr and the critical period Pcr. For this approach, a cable
force reference setpoint of 300 kN was used. The results
obtained with this approach are presented in Figures 7(b), 7(e)
and 7(h). It can be seen that, although the system is capable of
reducing the force in the cable, it is unable to control the stresses in the glass panes, which remain practically identical to
those presented in Figure 7(g), for the free system.
In order to comply with this dual objective, an alternative
control algorithm was proposed. This algorithm increases the
flexibility of the structure, when a blast event is detected, by
relaxing the tension in the cables to a lower tension threshold,
and by limiting the gains of the controller. When the root
mean square of the error, which is the difference between the
reference tension and its instantaneous value, is bounded to a
prescribed value, the tension reference setpoint is shifted back
to T0 and the system returns to its equilibrium position.
Several intermediate reference setpoints were tested, until a
value of TI = 150 kN was finally adopted. Figure 10 shows
comparisons between the performance of the free and controlled facades, in terms of displacements, tension in the cables
and stresses in the glass panes.

T0

Figure 8. Characterisation of the restoring force

ki

The efficiency of the active control system with regard to both

the limitation of the tension in the cables and stresses on the
glass panes can be confirmed. Observing Figures 10(c) and

pi

ui
l/2
p
pt
l/2

m
ui+ 1
ki + 1
(a)

pi + 1
(b)

(c)

Figure 9. Analysis of the glass panes

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Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

010

010

005

005
u: m

u: m

Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

005

005

010

010
0

3
t: s
(a)

3
t: s
(b)

330
010
320
310
F: kN

u: m

005
0

300
290

005

280
010
0

3
t: s
(c)

270

3
t: s

(d)

330
300

320

F: kN

F: kN

310
300

250

200

290
280

150
270

3
t: s
(e)

3
t: s
(f)

Figure 10. Comparison between the results yielded by the free

and controlled facades. (a) Displacement (free). (b) Displacement
(controlled, T0 = 300 kN). (c) Displacement (controlled, TI = 150 kN).
(d) Cable force (free). (e) Cable force (controlled, T0 = 300 kN).

(f) Cable force (controlled, TI = 150 kN). (g) Glass stress (free).
(h) Glass stress (controlled, T0 = 300 kN). (i) Glass stress (controlled,
TI = 150 kN) (continued on next page)

10(f), it can be seen that the tension in the cables immediately

starts to decrease, as the blast wave hits the facade, eventually reaching the intermediate setpoint of the controller.
Subsequently, the system recovers its original configuration,
as the tension in the cables increases to regain the original T0.
This control approach also enables the stresses in the glass
panes to be decreased by about 35%. Finally, observing

Figures 10(a) and 10(c), it can be seen that the horizontal displacements of the facade remain essentially unaltered by the
control system, since the length variation of the cables associated with the control action is limited to a maximum of 4 mm.

230

Analysing the above results, it can be concluded that the proposed active glazed cable facade is able to successfully

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Smart glazed cable facade subjected to a

blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

80

80

60

60

40

40

20

20

: MPa

: MPa

Structures and Buildings

Volume 169 Issue SB3

20

20

40

40

60

80

3
t: s
(g)

60

3
t: s
(h)

60
40
: MPa

20
0
20
40
60

3
t: s
(i)

Figure 10. Continued

accommodate the high structural demands imposed by a local

explosion loading, increasing its overall safety levels.

&

6.

The good performance of the proposed control approach in an

active glazed cable facade subjected to blast loads which are
extremely demanding actions from a structural point of view
gives an additional insight into the high potentiality of active/
adaptive facades for a wide range of dynamic applications. It is
expected that these control schemes for adaptive glazing
systems could find application in several glazing solutions (e.g.
cable net facades and single panels).

Conclusions

The dynamic response of a smart glazed cable facade subjected

to a medium-level air blast load has been investigated, and the
following conclusions can be drawn from the analysis.
&

&

&

It is reasonable to neglect the contribution of the glass

panes in the estimation of the overall structural response
of the proposed glazed cable facade subjected to the
considered blast loading.
It was demonstrated that, due to the fact that the proposed
system shows limited displacements, for sufficiently large
tension in the cables the response of the system is mainly
linear. This means that, under these conditions, the
principle of superposition holds and can be used to estimate the dynamic response of a cable system with multiple
degrees of freedom.
It is possible to implement an active-control system in a
glazed cable facade that efficiently limits the tension in the
cables and the stresses on the glass panes during a
medium-level air blast load, increasing the overall safety
levels of the facade.

The proposed PID control algorithm, with a dual setpoint

approach, was proven to be an adequate control solution
for this facade.

REFERENCES

Amadio C and Bedon C (2012) Elastoplastic dissipative devices

for the mitigation of blast resisting cable-supported glazing

faades. Engineering Structures 39: 103115.
Amadio C and Bedon C (2013) Multiple dissipative devices for
blast-resisting cable-supported glazing faades. Modelling
and Simulation in Engineering 2013: 13, http://dx.doi.org/
10.1155/2013/964910.
Bernard F and Daudeville L (2009) Point fixings in annealed
and tempered glass structures: modeling and optimization

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Structures and Buildings

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blast loading
dos Santos, Cismasiu and Bedon

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of Constructional Steel Research 60(8): 12271240.

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