Method to Determine the Probability of Failure for Annealed Monolithic Window Glass Loaded with a Uniform Wind Load

ASTM E1300-09 uses a glass failure prediction model (GFPM) to quantify the probability that a critical surface flaw with a certain location and orientation will initiate a facture in the glass for a given lite geometry and uniform design load. The nonfactored load charts in ASTM E1300-09 are calibrated to a GFPM probability of breakage of $8/\mathrm{1,000}\hspace{0.17em}\left(0.008\right)$ at the first occurrence of the design load. The GFPM probability of breakage only addresses the material properties of the annealed monolithic window glass and does not incorporate the probability of the occurrence of the design load. Because window glass is typically designed to resist wind loads, the probability of the occurrence of the design load was based on ASCE 7-05. Using a Monte Carlo simulation to evaluate the limit-state equation, this paper presents a procedure to quantify the probability of failure incorporating the probability of the wind load and the probability of the window glass load resistance from the GFPM for window glass lites loaded with a 3-s uniform lateral wind load. A series of figures are presented illustrating the large variations in the probability of failure as the nominal glass thickness changes with varying rectangular dimensions. The probabilities of failure tend to be an order of magnitude smaller than the corresponding probabilities of breakage.