Window Glass Design Practices: A Review

Window glass design practice in the 1950s and 1960s was influenced to a large degree by manufacturers glass design charts, adopted by building codes and standards and utilized heavily by the design professions. In the 1970s, a changing design environment caused professionals to examine more closely design processes for window glass. Questions concerning wind loads, glass strength, failure risks, and window system behavior have prompted window glass designers to look beyond the glass charts for guidance. Problems exists because of the limited amount of data and information available on window glass in the open engineering literature. Activity in the field of wind engineering assists the designer with problems related to load definition, but troublesome problems remains, i.e., questions of glass strength, glass behavior under load, and acceptable failure risks.