Glass Balustrades Drawings and Tech Specs

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Below are the full technical specification details of our Hybrid and Frameless balustarde systems. This includes technical drawings, elevations, sections, material specification, structural calculations and load tests and other useful technical information.

Our Range includes four distinct glass balustrade systems:

• Hybrid® Orbit (Balcony 1) System
• Hybrid® Aerofoil (Balcony 2) System
• Fully Frameless (SG12) System
• Semi Frameless (SG12 with top rail) System

The technical details below are divided into three parts:

1. Glass Balustrade Sections And Elevations
2. Glass Balustrade Materials Specification
3. Glass Balustrade Design Critieria (Loads, calculations & tests)

1. Sections and Elevations

Hybrid® Orbit (Balcony 1) Orbit Generic details Orbit Section Orbit Post Section Orbit Elevation Orbit Elevation with Post Wall fixing detail

Hybrid® Aerofoil (Balcony 2) Aerofoil Generic details Aerofoil Section Aerofoil Post Section Aerofoil Elevation Aerofoil Elevation with post Wall fixing detail

Frameless SG12 SG12 Generic Details SG12 Fully frameless - above floor level SG12 Fully frameless - below floor level SG12 With top handrail - above floor level SG12 With top handrail - below floor level

 

 

 

 

2. Materials Specification

Balustrade and base structure:

• 6063 T5 & 6063 T6 extruded aluminium profiles

Powder Coating or Anodising:

Colour options available for Hybrid Systems (Orbit & Aerofoil)

• 15 micron high-quality anodising in Matt Silver, Matt Bronze or "Royal Chrome" finish
• 60-100 micron Polyester powder coating in white colour
• 60-100 micron Polyester powder coating in RAL colour options available for large projects only.

Colour options available available for Frameless Systems (SG12)

• 15 micron high-quality anodising in Matt Silver or "Royal Chrome" finish
• 60-100 micron Polyester powder coating in RAL colour options available for large projects only.
• Below floor tracks are supplied in mill finish.

Primary Insert Posts

• Galvanized Steel with 15mm thick base plates.

Gaskets:

• EPDM (ethylene-propylene rubber)

Glasses:

Glass available for Hybrid Systems (Orbit & Aerofoil)

• 10mm clear toughened
• 10mm satinised (opaque) toughened
• 10mm tinted toughened (Green, Grey or Bronze)
• All the above can be supplied with the BalcoNano ® self-cleaning coating.

Glasses Available for Frameless Systems (SG12)

Residential

• 21.5mm clear laminated & toughened (10mm toughened + 1.5mm interlayer + 10mm toughened)
• 21.5mm opaque laminated & toughened (with opaque interlayer)
• 21.5mm low-iron (extra clear) laminated & toughened
• All the above can be supplied with the BalcoNano ® self-cleaning coating.

Public

• 25.5mm clear laminated & toughened (12mm toughened + 1.5mm interlayer + 12mm toughened)
• 25.5mm opaque laminated & toughened (with opaque interlayer)
• 25.5mm low-iron (extra clear) laminated & toughened

• All the above can be supplied with the BalcoNano ® self-cleaning coating.

3. Design Criteria

Design standards:

The systems have been designed using the following BS and Eurocode standards:

EN 1990 Eurocode 0: Basis of structural design.
EN 1991 Eurocode 1: Actions on structures.
EN 1993 Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures.
EN 1999 Eurocode 9: Design of aluminium structures.
BS EN 1990:2002 + A1:2005 Eurocode: UK National annex for Eurocode
BS 6180:2011 British standard: Barriers in and about buildings.
BS EN 1991-1-4:2002 + A1:2010 ‘Actions on structures – wind actions’
UK National Annex to EN 1991-1-4:2002 + A1:2010

Permitted Loading:

Loading is taken from Table 2 of BS 6180:2011 Barriers in and about buildings – Code of practice

A copy of this table can viewed here: Table 2 Minimum horizontal imposed loads for parapets, barriers and balustrades.

Residential (Covers occupancy types i, ii, ii, iv, v, viii & ix shown in Table 2 above)

• Horizontal uniformly distributed line load (at 1.1m handrail height) - 0.74 kN/m
• Uniformly distributed load applied to the infill - 1.0 kN/m2
• A point load applied to part of the infill - 0.5 kN

Public (Covers occupancy types vi, vii, x & xiii shown in Table 2 above)

• Horizontal uniformly distributed line load (at 1.1m handrail height) - 1.5 kN/m
• Uniformly distributed load applied to the infill - 1.5 kN/m2
• A point load applied to part of the infill - 1.5 kN

NB: it is assumed that the wall/structure being fixed to can support the required loads.

Structural Calculations

The Structural calculations below are for each system type. There are calculation below for residential occupancies and also public areas as specified above in Table 2 Minimum horizontal imposed loads for parapets, barriers and balustrades.

Residential occupancy calculations:

Hybrid® Orbit (Balcony 1) Orbit (Balcony 1) System. structural calculation

Hybrid® Aerofoil (Balcony 2) Aerofoil (Balcony 2) System structural calculation

Frameless SG12 Balustrades SG12 (Frameless) System structural calculation

Public & Areas susceptible to overcrowding occupancy calculations:

Hybrid® Orbit (Balcony 1) Orbit (Balcony 1) System. structural calculation (1.5kN/m)

Hybrid® Aerofoil (Balcony 2) Aerofoil (Balcony 2) System structural calculation (1.5kN/m)

Frameless SG12 Balustrades SG12 (Frameless) System structural calculation (1.5kN/m)

Load testing

Our systems have been load tested by independent engineering companies to test physically and in practice the ability of the systems to resist loadings. The tests include:

• deflection under maximum load
• loads uniformly distributed and point load tests.

Both the handrails and glass infill panels were subjected to the testing. The testing confirmed that the systems meet and exceed the required criteria.

• Load testing  Appendix A:  pictures
• Point load testing on our balustrade system glass infill
• Uniformly distributed load testing on our balustrade system glass infill
• Introduction document for load tests
• Load testing on our balcony balustrade system

Fire Rating

This classification report defines the classification assigned to Balconette’s Hybrid® Balustrade Systems, in accordance with the procedures given in BS EN 13501-1: 2018. Balconette Hybrid® Balustrade Systems including the systems listed below:

Hybrid® Aerofoil Balustrade
Hybrid® Orbit Balustrade
Hybrid® Aerofoil infinity (Pass through) Screen
Hybrid® Orbit Privacy Screen
Hybrid® Glass Gate
SG12 Frameless System with a handrail

If you would like more information about our glass balustrade systems, please contact us.