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Safety First For Pilkington04 March 2005
Pilkington Architectural has extended the flexibility of its tried and tested structural glazing system with the introduction of Blast Resistant Pilkington Planar™.
Pilkington Architectural has extended the flexibility of its tried and tested structural glazing system with the introduction of Blast Resistant Pilkington Planar™. With increasing concern over terrorist activity on prominent buildings within the major cities of the world, Blast Resistant Pilkington Planar™ offers designers a solution to the problems associated with high velocity glass particles.
The design of the new concept enables it to survive a high energy explosion, using a variation on the Pilkington Planar™ unique fixing mechanism, which keeps the stresses around the countersunk boltholes supporting the glazing to an absolute minimum.
Under blast conditions, the strength of Pilkington Planar™ is derived from its ability to deflect and absorb the energy generated by the blast. With more conventional glazing systems, the negative pressure from a bomb blast can cause the panels to bulge and fall towards the source of the blast.
Panels supported only at their corners, such as Pilkington Planar™, are by far the most efficient at absorbing the pressure wave associated with an explosion.
When combined with the inherent flexibility of tension systems and conventional steel columns, the Blast Resistant Planar demonstrates intense structural reliability. When tested, the Pilkington Planar™ system achieved a UK EDICTS rating of Very High Level Protection Glazing, equivalent to that of a GSA Class 1 rating in the USA.
Pilkington Architectural has developed Blast Resistant Pilkington Planar™ in response to the quandary faced by designers to create aesthetic, low energy consumptive buildings that combine a high level of security. Previously, the most common method of blast resistance was to place security film over the glazing but this is reliant on a positive fix into a reinforced glazing channel.
Blast Resistant Pilkington Planar™ allows designers to continue to use the visually appealing Pilkington Planar™ structural bolted system, whilst still providing the highest level of defence against bomb attack.