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Bondless Innovation

Evaluating direct adhesion in a concrete-glass interface for free-form transparency

Student:

Mentors:

Nils Wulfsen

Faidra Oikonomopoulou

Marcel Bilow

More information:

Fully glazed offices are being questioned due to issues with heat gain, view obstruction from shading, and glare. Energy-efficient facades should allow daylight penetration while preventing excessive solar heat. These fully glazed offices also have a monotonous appearance and, therefore, lack design freedom.

This thesis proposes a novel hybrid panel combining a transparent (glass) and an opaque (concrete) material in a single prefabricated unit without adhesives to create a new design language.

Since concrete and glass lack strong natural adhesion, this research focuses on optimizing the interface between these materials to enhance adhesion and structural integrity. Key parameters investigated include material composition, interlocking geometry, and surface roughness. Experimental testing revealed that combining interlocking forms with surface roughness significantly improves adhesion strength. Specifically, surface roughness combined with an interlocking form characterized by a repetitive series of peaks yielded the best results for robust interfacial adhesion.

Design guidelines were established to minimize stress concentrations in facade panels, ensuring sustainable solutions by enabling disassembly and recycling. This innovative hybrid panel represents a significant advancement in facade technology, blending the opacity of concrete with the transparency of glass in a free-form manner without the use of additives.

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