Be careful not to make generalizations about glass railings!

Just because a rectangular guardrail panel works doesn’t mean that a shaped glass panel (parallelogram) of the same dimensions and composition will work.

The proof in numbers: Here we will look at a finite element analyses of a 1200 mm-wide panel with a base shoe and a Taper-Loc®-type anchor or equivalent.

Critical scenario: Standards require that one or two adjacent panes be considered broken during the analysis according to the applicable standard. We therefore conducted our analysis assuming one broken pane.

↑ Rectangular railing: 105 MPa

↑ Stair railing, same dimensions: 136 MPa

Glass used for stair railings is therefore about 30% more critical, due to its geometry (136 ÷ 105 = 1.295).

Conclusion: For a glass railing, it is possible that a particular glass thickness will work for a rectangular shape of a certain size but will not work for a parallelogram-shaped stair glass panel.

Of course, the percentage difference will depend on the glass composition (thickness), the dimensions of the panes, the position of the Taper-Loc®-type supports, and certain other factors. The 30% difference is therefore variable, but the key takeaway is that in most cases, glass used for a staircase railing (in a parallelogram shape) will be more critical and may require thicker glass composition.

The takeaway: Each configuration must be validated according to codes and standards, but above all, don’t forget redundancy… a monolithic (single-layer) glass railing without a handrail is not legal… even for buildings covered by Part 9 of the Quebec or Canadian code.

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