Materials
Vision Engineering & Design Inc. understands the materials used in the building science and glazing industries. This ensures our reports provide a practical perspective to industry problems. VEDI's understanding of glass, insualting glass, aluminum, granite, plastic, and fibreglass comes from numerous structural load and durability tests.
Glass
VEDI's principal, Geoff Francis, has been involved in the design of glass products for over 30 years. He is a member of the Canadian General Standard Board committee for CAN/CGSB 12.20 - Structural Design of Glass for Buildings.As a brittle material the requirement for the design of glass products and the investigation of glass failures are different from typical construction materials such as structural steel and reinforced concrete. Glass is available in a variety of specifications, finishes, thicknesses and even chemistry.
Insulating Glass
Geoff Francis has been involved in the design of insulating glass products for over 25 years. He was one of two of the Canadian representatives on the ASTM committee to harmonize the insulating glass standards between Canada and the United States.Insulating glass is a combination of three totally different products: glass, sealants and spacer assemblies. Each of these products is available in a variety of specifications and even basic materials. As a result there is a large variety of insulating glass products and knowledge of each of the constituent materials is essential in understanding how they interact and perform as an assembled product.
Aluminum
Geoff Francis has been involved in the structural design of aluminum products for over 35 years. He carried out his Master's thesis on aluminum space frames and jointing systems. He has been a member of Canadian Standards Association (CSA) committee for Strength Design in Aluminum S157-03 since 1980.Aluminum is a versatile structural material; however, it is not as forgiving as structural steel so consequently it must be used with care. Although certain alloys can be as strong as mild steel every aluminum alloy is three times more flexible than steel. This means that deflection, natural frequency and buckling issues dominate the design of aluminum structures. In addition aluminum does not yield like structural steel so secondary stresses, welds and extrusion shapes must be carefully considered at the design stage.
Granite
Granite is a beautiful natural product that is often used on building facades and in curtain walls. However, it is extremely brittle and its mechanical properties vary both with environment and between batches. As a result extreme care must be exercised when using thin (approximately 75mm and less) panels.Plastics and Fibreglass
Plastics and fiberglass is often used in windows, curtain walls and associated products. Plastics can be extruded or molded by a variety of techniques and fiberglass can be laid-up or pultruded. The specification of plastic products varies considerably and the properties of pultruded fiberglass are different in the longitudinal direction to the lateral direction. As a result all plastic and fiberglass products need to be designed with a good understanding of fundamental engineering principles.Geoff Francis has been involved in a number of plastic and fiberglass product design and development projects and understands the requirements of each material.
Sealants
Sealants are used to protect interiors from air and water and can also be used as an adhesive. Geoff Francis was a pioneer in the use of structural silicone glazing designing systems in the early 1980's and has a number of patents for these systems.Since that time he has designed numerous structural silicone systems (see Clients - Glazing Contractors) and worked with research chemists in the development of new products.
