An Insight into Mitigation of Glass Soft Targets and Design of Protective Facades

摘要

Glass, due to several motivations, attracts the attention of architects and designers. Especially in the last two decades, the use of glass in buildings in the form of load-bearing material increased significantly. On one hand, the architectural impact of wide glass surfaces is a key aspect for designers. On the other hand, however, glass facades and structures are highly vulnerable to extreme loads, especially terroristic attacks, and should be designed to provide appropriate protection to the occupants. In this paper, a brief insight into design concepts and trends, as well as methods in use for the optimisation of glass structures under blast loads is reported, with careful consideration for glass facades.