Cold-bent glass has been utilized in a number of landmark projects globally, owing to its cost-effectiveness and low carbon footprint. To investigate the impact of cold bending loads on the long-term performance of insulating laminated glass, this paper proposes a durability testing method for cold-bent glass. This method is based on the hypothesis that the failure of the glass sealing system is caused by the cold bending process. It is novel in its use of full-scale glass panel specimens subjected to the maximum design cold-bend curvature to replicate the worst-case sealing boundary conditions present in actual installations. This method comprises three components: cold bending, cyclic immersion in water, and high–low temperature cycling. The durability is evaluated by assessing the laminating condition and sealing performance of the insulating laminated glass before and after testing. In total, 24 insulating glass samples from an actual engineering project were studied by the proposed methodology. The results indicate the following: (1) the proposed method demonstrates strong operational feasibility, suitable for durability testing and the assessment of cold-bent insulating laminated glass across diverse dimensions; (2) no significant quality or sealing issues were observed in the tested samples during the tests, suggesting that durability is minimally affected when the glass’s cold bending warpage is controlled within certain range; and (3) a discernible trend observed in the full-scale test data is that cold bending results in increased misalignment and decreased argon content. These findings provide a valuable reference for the design and construction of cold-bent glass curtain wall projects.

Cold-bent glass curtain walls have been widely adopted in landmark buildings due to their remarkable economic and low-carbon advantages. To investigate the stress state of insulated laminated glass under the corner cold-bending condition, this paper, based on glass samples from actual engineering projects, proposed a cold-bending test method suitable for large-sized glass samples and analyzed the stress distribution characteristics by combining the finite element method (FEM). The results show that: (1) The maximum principal stress concentrates near the midpoint of the short side, with relatively high stresses also observed in the central area. (2) The FEM predictions agree well with experimental measurements, with errors remaining within 20% for most measurement points. (3) Under corner cold bending, the glass deformation exhibits a fan-shaped distribution, and the stress distribution between the inner and outer glass panes differs significantly. On the upper glass surface, stresses are primarily concentrated in the diagonal region and increase towards the edges. In contrast, the stress on the lower surface of the glass is significantly influenced by the clamping method and the supporting frame, leading to pronounced stress concentrations. These findings provide practical guidance for the engineering design and numerical simulation of cold-bent insulated glass curtain walls.

Cold-bent glass has been utilized in a number of landmark projects globally, owing to its cost-effectiveness and low carbon footprint. To investigate the impact of cold-bending loads on the long-term performance of insulating laminated glass, this paper proposes a durability testing method for cold-bent glass. This method comprises three components: cold-bending, cyclic immersion in water, and high-low temperature cycling. The durability is evaluated by assessing the laminating condition and sealing performance of the insulating laminated glass before and after testing. 24 insulating glass samples from an actual engineering project were studied by the proposed methodology. The results indicate: 1) The proposed method demonstrates strong operational feasibility, suitable for durability testing and assessment of cold-bent insulating laminated glass across diverse dimensions; 2) No significant quality or sealing issues were observed in the tested samples during the tests, suggesting that durability is minimally affected when the glass cold-bending warpage is controlled within certain range. These findings provide valuable reference for the design and construction of cold-bent glass curtain wall projects.