Curtain Wall Designs for Wind and Blast: Three Case Studies
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 12, Issue 3
Abstract
Current design for curtain walls subjected to wind, wind-borne debris, and blast contain relatively new structural requirements for the curtain wall designer to address. These new criteria are defined and discussed in application to three case studies of curtain wall systems. The case studies illustrate the impact of these criteria on modern curtain wall designs and offer conclusions regarding the process and impact of designing curtain walls to current standards. It is concluded that projects in hurricane regions require fairly stout deigns and can withstand moderate blast loads. Wind tunnel testing remains a viable option to define design load criteria. Even low-rise building projects in high-velocity wind zones can benefit from wind tunnel modeling due to more precise and often reduced design pressures.
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References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 12 • Issue 3 • September 2006
Pages: 150 - 155
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 31, 2004
Accepted: Oct 22, 2005
Published online: Sep 1, 2006
Published in print: Sep 2006
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