Betti's Analytical Method for the load sharing in double glazed units

Double Glazed Units (DGUs) consist of two glass panes held together by structural edge seals, entrapping a gas for thermal and acoustic insulation. The interaction between panes and gas is structurally beneficial because it permits the sharing on both panes of applied loads. Here, a tailored use of the Reciprocal Work Theorem by Betti provides an analytical calculation method for DGUs with panes of arbitrary thickness under the most various support conditions and external loads. This is Betti's Analytical Method (BAM) for DGUs. The great advantage with respect to other methods is that it only requires to evaluate the deflection of a simply-supported linear-elastic plate, shaped as the glass panes, under uniform pressure, in order to evaluate the load shearing under any kind of applied loads (line or point loads). Results are in excellent agreement with the cases covered by previous procedures, but with no need of tables and charts. A parametric analysis for rectangular- and equilateral-triangular-shaped DGUs emphasizes the effects of size, shape and thickness of glass panes and interpane cavity, gas compressibility and type of loading.