Wind Load on Glass

Engage the consultation of a knowledgeable person. Provide actual dimensions, not "the buildings are one to three stories in height."

--Tornado

Excellent point. Lets not forget, Egypt with its combination of desert sands, Mediterranean moisture and I'm certain aspects that I cannot possibly dream of will have its own special collection of factors to know about wind loads and erosion on glass.

Another option is to carry out wind tunnel tests on models of the buildings, then scale-up the results both dimensionally and fluid properties to establish the load on the real thing. There are firms that can do this sort of thing for a fee.

Gary,

Did you do the Planet Hollywood stuff?

What gets me is how an architect would not already have some idea about this.

But maybe he is a product of a kastrupsky talent surch....

kastrupsky talent surch

Truly a legend in his own mind.

I cannot tell you how tempted I am in these cases to write: "30 lbs. Tell them 30 lbs."

Consult the local weather station, they have pile data for the dominant and strong winds on the area including the frequency of and wind speed of typhoons/hurricane on the area.

The strongest wind(speed) multiplied by a safety factor (say 2.5) for that speed would be the thing your glass manufacturer require.

Or given that designed wind speed, you could solve for the bearing stress between the glass and the frame-your maximum load should be computed there.

Give me money, ill show the equations, haha. joke only.

Glass is non structure materials and has lower density than its counterpart call glass ceramics.

Glass installation is effected by wind quality because of erosion and burst strength under pressure.

If your area get sand storm then you have to consider that in part of equation to calculate the glass thickness along with glass hardness.

If you have info of wind speed sand storm quality then you will be able to predict glass thickness if you know glass hardness.

If you are not qualified to make the calculations, then you MUST find someone who is. I am not trying to be facetious, honestly. There are many, many things to consider beyond wind load.

Here is a simple go-by to get you in the ball park:

F_D=½ρv²C_DA

F_D is the force of drag, which is by definition the force component in the direction of the flow velocity

ρ is the mass density of the fluid

v is the velocity of the object relative to the fluid

C_D is the drag coefficient — a dimensionless constant, e.g. 0.25 to 0.45 for a car

A is the reference area

This will give you normal wind loads. However, your glass is just as likely to be pulled out by pressure drop induced by wind shear.

Give the door manufacturers the nominal and maximum recorded wind speed for your area. That should be a start.

-A-

The blockhouse type Navy housing I lived in on Guam years ago had windows that were said to withstand a 150 MPH coconut. So, as mentioned earlier in the thread, locale specifics are a must.