The Great Spandrel Glass Debate
What spandrel glass failures are telling us about changing thermal conditions and ceramic frit.
Presented on October 10, 2024 at Facade Tectonics 2024 World Congress
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Overview
Abstract
As we change the rules of thermal performance for facades, we are changing the conditions the glass is subject to in shadow boxes and glazed spandrel panels. The occurrence of fritted spandrel glass failures in over 30 buildings in different thermal climates is indicative of a bigger problem; these failures are just ‘the canary in the coal mine.’ This paper describes when and why the golden rule of 'heat-strengthened glass is OK in spandrels' now needs a few caveats, including care in selection of the IGU spacer and opacifier.
Authors
Richard Green SE PE P.Eng CPEng IntPE APEC Engineer M.ASCE M.IEAust
Principal / Owner
Green Facades LLC
richard@greenfacadesllc.com
Keywords
Paper content
Introduction
There is a saying in engineering that ‘when things start breaking, usually multiple things have gone wrong.’ In the case of fritted spandrel glass, we are seeing the
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Footnotes
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Chris Barry and Casey Anderson who provided figures and permission to reprint.
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References
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