THE EARTHQUAKE AND THE CURTAIN WALLS

THE EARTHQUAKE AND THE CURTAIN WALLS

Introduction
We are all aware of the extent of devastation caused by major earthquakes to the constructions and particularly to the buildings, as well as of the impact of such devastation on a personal or national level resulting from the loss of human life and from the material and economic damages.

This is the reason why such great numbers of Scientific Organizations, Universities, Research Centers and Institutes are studying the seismic protection of buildings, aiming mainly at the construction of buildings whose the structural elements are capable of resisting the loads of major earthquakes, thus reducing the risk of collapse.

The problem of effectively reducing the seismic risk by the construction of earthquake resistant buildings is particularly complex, since it is affected by large numbers of parameters and many other factors.

To begin with, there is the earthquake with its characteristics (range, distance, direction, depth of epicenter), which, combined with those of the soil on which the building is founded (composition, condition, moisture) result in the earthquake magnitudes charging the building (acceleration, speed, duration, frequency of vibration). On the other hand, there is the building itself receiving the seismic forces and resisting to them depending on the characteristics of its structure (building geometry, form, mass, structural elements arrangement, rigidity, fundamental period of vibration etc.).

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The structural frame of a building is the main load bearing element. It is this structural frame which first receives all seismic forces and reacts to them. The degree of the buildings survival over an earthquake depends on the reaction and the overall behavior of the structure to the loads created by the earthquake forces.

Besides the building structural frame there are additional building components which are placed onto the structure reacting parallel with it to the earthquake forces according to their own characteristics. It is widely accepted that the functional capability of the building following an earthquake and its rating as habitable or not frequently depends on the extent of damage caused to such additional building components, irrespectively of the fact that the structure may have been unharmed.

Among the non structural components of a building the most important are considered to be the building envelope components and specially the glass curtain walls, which compared with all other components, present the greatest degree of vulnerability during an earthquake.

This high vulnerability of glass curtain walls is due to the fact that glass panes are unable to follow the deformations imposed to the building structure by seismic forces in the course of an earthquake and to adjust to the interstate drift. More specifically, they are unable to adjust to displacements parallel to their surface, since the glass panes cannot deform to this direction.

However, and irrespectively of the fact that the building structure may have survived undamaged after an earthquake, as already mentioned, the fragility of glass panes particularly against hits and pressure applied onto their edges, makes them being the first among the other faade components that are destroyed.

The elements more strained by the seismic forces due to seismic acceleration and the interstorey drift are the anchoring of the curtain wall frame on the structure of the building.

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General picture of deformation and the interstorey drift ()

Figure 1A shows the deformation and the interstorey drift () caused to the building structure between two adjacent storeys in the course of an earthquake. It shows the floor slab of the storey referred to (1.1), the roof slab of the said storey or floor slab of the storey above (1.2) and the columns of storey (1.3) under conditions of calm (no tremor). Figure 1B presents the deformation of elements and the interstorey drift () between slabs of the two storeys (1.4) under conditions of seismic impact. Figure 1C presents the same section of the building structure along with the structural frame of a conventional curtain wall system, under conditions of calm (no tremor), while Figure 1D refers to the same elements as above under earthquake conditions, during which the structure of the curtain walls follows structure. Figure 1E presents the same structure as that of Figure 1C, with the addition of glass panels, under conditions (no tremor), while Figure 1F refers to conditions of seismic impact and shows that the glass panels fail to follow the deformation of the curtain walls structure supporting them. the deformation of the building

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Figure 1F indicates why the glass panes are susceptible to break, as they cannot follow the deformation of the curtain wall structure in a direction parallel to the surface of a conventional curtain wall system which consist of continuous vertical beams (mullions) and of short horizontal beams (cross-beams) fixed in-between the vertical ones.

The problem becomes more serious when the glass panes are bonded directly to the mullions, a usual application in structural glazing. In this case there is no margin for movements of the glass panes in respect to the mullions resulting in glazing breakage even in minor earthquakes.

NOTE Whatever will be described below for interstorey drifts during an earthquake, it also applies in high rise buildings for displacement due to high wind loads during hurricane.

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The confrontation of Seismic problem

To be earthquake resistant, a glass curtain wall should be capable of totally absorbing the interstorey drift () occurring in all directions between the adjacent storeys, while its components should be capable of withstanding, without any permanent deformation, the accelerations (g) developed in the course of the earthquake, irrespectively of the tremor spectrum.

This capability should be a requirement of all glass curtain walls at any level and in any direction, of corner walls at any corner, edge or setback, corner walls between buildings, as well as of curtain walls carrying unified glass panels from one floor to the other floor.

In addition, the seismic resistance of the glass curtain wall should not affect its functional capacity or its air- and water-tightness and it should not reduce its strength against wind pressure and other external forces after the termination of the earth tremor.

All the above may be achieved by means of a functional separation of the glass curtain wall of each storey from those of adjacent storeys, upper or lower, in a way ensuring that the drift of the curtain wall in each storey will be independent of that of curtain walls over the other storeys.

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