The Breakage of Float Glass with Four-Edge Shading Under the Combined Effect of Wind Loading and Thermal Loading

The glass breakage in high-rise building fires may be significantly influenced by both the compartment fire and the environmental wind. In this work, float glass panes supported by the frame with a dimension of 600 × 600 × 6 mm³ were employed to study the glass breakage under the combination of wind and fire effects. The first breaking time, glass temperature, crack patterns, and fallout were obtained. With an increase of wind speed, the average value of temperature difference between the mean temperature at the heated exposed side and that at the ambient shaded side decreased gradually when crack initiated. The average time to first crack was maximum without wind loading and decreased gradually as the wind speed increased. Comparing with the glass breakage only under thermal radiation, the combination of environmental wind accelerated the glass breaking. The present results suggest that the wind effect should be considered for building fire protection in the window glass design.