Experimental Research on Mechanical Properties of Stone Curtain Wall Connection with Attached Stone Back Hook

A type of stone curtain wall connection with attached L-shaped stone back hook is put forward. In order to investigate the mechanical properties of this type of connection, out-of-plane loading tests were carried out on 81 specimens, and the failure mode and bearing capacity of the connections with different hook thicknesses, hook-curtain wall panel bond widths, and thicknesses of curtain wall panel were analyzed. The experimental results showed that, three different types of failure modes, i.e., fracture of back hook at corner, facture of back hook near bonding area, and fracture of curtain wall panel, would occur for the connection. All the failure modes exhibited brittle characteristic, and the deformation of connection before failure was unobvious. When the thickness of curtain wall panel was kept constant, increasing the hook thickness and hook-curtain wall panel bond widths could improve the ultimate bearing capacity of the connection until the fracture of curtain wall panel occured, that is, the “strong joint” principle was achieved. Based on force analysis, calculation methods for the out-of-plane bearing capacities of connections under different failure modes were proposed, and configuration suggestions were also obtained.