Loud Noises Make the World a Safer Place |
In May this year, for Wrightstyle, Advantica set off the largest explosive device they are prepared to detonate on their site, to simulate what would happen to a glazing system if a lorry packed with high explosive was detonated nearby. That is 500 kg of TNT-equivalent explosive, up to ten times the size of a car bomb, and many, many times more powerful than a single suicide bomber.
The lorry bomb was set off adjacent to our glazed curtain wall system in a multi-panel format – a system that, aesthetically, looks no different from any other glass frontage. The independent test proved that the [J1] glass didn't shatter into deadly shards and the steelwork holding the multiple panes in place remained immovable.
Significant? Absolutely. Most tests of this kind use only a single module of glass, not a multi-panel large span assembly. Most blast systems are chunky, ours has a slim 60mm profile width. AND we then put the same test rig through a second blast test, at closer range, with the equivalent of a car bomb – and it passed that too.
It now means that the design balance has tipped more favourably back to architects. They are once again able to design sensitive buildings that don't look like bunkers, with small windows. They can once again use the panorama of their imaginations to build buildings that look visually stunning.
