Balustrade Testing

Clear Structures were requested to evaluate a proposed dry clamp free standing balustrade base shoe.

The proposed system comprised of a substantial extruded aluminium base channel into which the balustrade glass is installed.  The glass is then secured in place using nylon sleeves and aluminium wedges, rather than the traditional method of hardwood wedges and two part epoxy polysulphide glazing compound.

As part of the review Clear Structures firstly carried out a desk based study of the base clamp using Finite Element Analysis of the clamp, based on several fixing configurations and load sets.  Once the desk based study was completed Clear Structures then undertook a series of site based load tests using our portable balustrade testing rig.