Applications of computational wind engineering in the design of glass façades

Mauro Overend, Kenneth Zammit, David Hargreaves
School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham

There is a general awareness within the glass design community about the discrepancies that exist between the various calculation methods for determining the load-bearing resistance of glass. One particular area where these differences are most pronounced is in the design of glass for resisting wind induced pressures. Since wind induced pressure is often the critical load in most glass façades, these discrepancies are therefore a cause of some concern for glass designers as they cast doubts on whether the glass thicknesses being specified are overly conservative or possibly unsafe. This paper attempts to quantify these discrepancies by undertaking a quantitative comparison of the various predictive methods available. The results of this study show that differences between one method and another may yield variations of up to100% in glass thicknesses and that emerging computational methods may provide an accurate and economical alternative to traditional wind loading and glass design methods in the near future.

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The Authors

	Dr. Mauro Overend Dr. University of Cambridge Dr Mauro Overend is a lecturer at the University of Nottingham (UK) where he teaches architectural structures and façade engineering. Dr. Overend’s main research interests are related to glass and faç... Read more
	Mr. Kenneth Zammit Design Engineer Whitbybird Read more