- Author
- Deschenes, J. P. | Behr, R.A. | Pantelides, C. P. | Minor, J. E.
- Title
- Dynamic Racking Performance of Curtain Wall Glass Elements. Final Report. January 1991-December 1991.
- Coporate
- Missouri-Rolla Univ., MO
- Sponsor
- Monsanto Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO Robertson-Cupples Curtain Wall Co., St. Louis, MO
- Report
- Final Report, December 1991, 212 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- glass | curtain walls | high rise buildings | earthquakes | failure | glazing materials
- Identifiers
- architectural glass; building envelope; dynamic tests; in-plane racking tests; glass fallout; breakage origin; curtain wall frame; glass failure
- Abstract
- Glass falling from curtain walls of high-rise buildings during an earthquake is a serious safety problem. Dynamic racking tests were performed on a 15 ft (4.56 m) wide by 12 ft. (3.68 m) high section of curtain wall containing three 5 x 6 ft (1.52 x 1.84 m) glass panels to simulate the inter-story drift phenomenon that occurs during an earthquake. Different types of glass were tested to evaluate their ability to remain in the curtain wall frame after breakage. A prescribed dynamic tests was repeated three times for each type of glass. Three lites of glass were used in each test. The types of glass tested were: annealed monolithic, annealed monolithic with a film backing, fully tempered monolithic, heat strengthened monolithic, annealed laminated, fully tempered laminated and heat strengthened laminated. Annealed monolithic glass experienced fallout in both small and large fragments. The adhesive film on the annealed monolithic glass prevented small fragments from falling out, but caused entire lites to fall out after severe cracking had occurred. Dicing of fully tempered monolithic glass resulted in loss of entire lites of glass. Loss of rigidity in fully tempered laminated glass caused entire lites to fall from the curtain wall. Heat strenghtened laminated glass and annealed laminated glass experienced no fallout. The moderate amount of glass fallout observed during this test program indicated that more advanced test criteria, such as out-of-plane motion, need to be developed that are more representative of building motions during earthquakes.