Design and application considerations

Cracking can also occur more readily in panels which are connected in a rigid manner to a frame, or around connections which do not allow freedom of movement. Cracking may also be induced more readily in panels of complex configuration, where internal restraint may be generated by the shape of the panel. 

The most important means of overcoming such cracking risks is to design the component properly, taking these effects into account and in particular providing flexible connections. For this purpose a variety of different connections have been developed (see Chapter 14). 

Another approach which has become common in recent years is to use a system with a single skin GRC panel mounted on a studded steel frame. The connections 

Majumdar and R.W. Nurse, Glass fibre reinforced cement , Building Research Establishment Current Paper, CP79/74, Building Research Establishment, England, 1974. 

Neuwerth and C.J. Phillips, Behaviour of fibre glass reinforced concrete beams , ASCE, J. Struct. Div. 97,1971, 2203-2215. 

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