Hurricane Resistant Glass impact resistant glass

Glass and frame or hurricane shutters need to be able to remain intact, that is, not
shatter with the impact of flying debris/ small missiles.
The glass pane and frame need to be securely connected to the building structure to
resist pull-out with wind action.
The glass, before installation, should be tested to the design hurricane wind speeds
for the country/ region.
The windows need to be installed as per the manufacturers specifications.

Shatter resistance can be achieved with laminated glass with polyvinyl butaryl (PVB) or
glass layered with a shatter-resistant film. The laminated glass is much more expensive, but
can resist wind speeds of up to 200mph.

The following are excerpts from Technical Publication by the Institution of Structural
Engineers, Structural Use of Glass in Buildings, 2
nd
Edition, 2013


2.5.2 Inherent properties
As has been explained previously, glass is a brittle material that can fail unpredictably. Its inability to yield
means that local stresses at points of support are more often than not the guiding factor when designing
glass elements over and above the stresses being induced upon them elsewhere..

2.6.2 Post-failure behaviour of laminated glass
Laminated glass tends to remain in place for some time after it has failed. This is due to the viscoelastic
interlayer that exists between each ply of glass. The interlayer goes into tension and keeps the glass in
place, which is why it is favoured for glass panes that are at risk of falling from height. This is not always
the case, however, for laminated toughened glass with PVB interlayers; it is possible for the interlayer to
tear as the fragments of glass cut into it. This only occurs if all of the plies in the laminated glass have
failed, resulting in a significant amount of tension being taken by the PVB interlayer.
Furthermore, if all panes of a laminated toughened glass panel fail, the residual out-of-plane stiffness of
the panel is significantly reduced. The panel may fall as excessive deflections cause it to pull from a
rebate or detach from its fixings.
There are two ways to overcome this issue. One way is to make one of the plies of glass in the laminated
pane either basic annealed or heat-strengthened while the other is toughened/tempered. By doing so one
of the plies can fail yet remain in place as the other ply remains intact.