Experimental studies on cracking of glass panes in a fire

Many glass curtain walled buildings were constructed in big cities of the Far East. Concern on the behavior of those glass façade systems in a big fire has just been raised by the public. However, very few studies on fires in buildings with glass façade were reported in the literature. A long-term research program on behavior of glass façade under fire was worked out. Cracking of a single glass panel under fire was studied experimentally. Part of a glass façade system with a single panel was placed next to a chamber with a 0.56 MW gasoline pool fire. The heat release rate of 0.56 MW was strong enough to onset flashover inside the chamber. The flame coming out of the chamber would act at the panel directly. Locations of cracks and time to cracking were measured. The cracking times for the same type of glass panes under the same fire were observed to be very different. Therefore, the cracking time is suggested to be modeled by appropriate statistical methods. © 2008, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.