Hurricane Mitigation Design of Glazing Systems: Requirements for Wind and Windborne Debris Protection

The perspective of this paper will be from the design requirements of the State of Florida, home to arguably the strictest and most complete building code requirements for hurricane design in the country. This paper will identify and address the requirements for glazing systems in the state that can be applicable to other hurricane prone regions of the country. The paper will also identify factors that help determine the capacity of glazing systems to achieve the goal of adequately protecting our buildings from hurricane force winds and wind borne debris during a storm. The scope of this paper is to raise awareness of the many aspects of glazing system design and materials with respect to hurricane loads in order to adequately mitigate damage to the buildings. This will be done by examining materials, code and all other compliance requirements necessary to achieve the above stated goal. The basic requirements in order to achieve the goal include: design considerations for wind and windborne debris protection, code and standards compliance, testing requirements, product certification, and inspection requirements. After reading this paper the reader will have a very good understanding of the issues pertaining to design of glazing systems to meet hurricane requirements and also have a good understanding of the entire process necessary to protect the building envelope from a powerful storm. In order for the glazing systems used in our buildings today to help mitigate the effects of hurricanes, all of the necessary steps mentioned above must be adhered to in the most complete way possible.