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Our Testing Stories |
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Two-story China Mock-up Test in China, 2002
A two story high, full scale TingWall™ mock-up
was tested on October 22 and October 23 of 2002
at the Chinese government laboratory in Guangzhou
in accordance with the requirements of Chinese Curtain
Wall Standard GB/T 15227-94. The test results indicated
that the performances are either the Top Grade or
beyond the Standard requirement as itemized below
in accordance with the sequence of tests.
Air Leakage Rate Tests
The air leakage rates were recorded at load stages
of 10 Pa, 20 Pa, 30 Pa, 50 Pa, 70 Pa, 100 Pa, 150
Pa (3.14 psf), 100 Pa, 70 Pa, 50 Pa, 30 Pa, 20 Pa,
10 Pa. All the recorded air leakage rates are well
within the maximum allowable limit achieving the
Top Grade in accordance with the Chinese Standard.
For the purpose of comparison, in the USA, the AAMA
recommended load for Air Test is between 1.6 psf
and 6.4 psf.
Static Water Test
Non-stop water tests were conducted at five elevated
load stages with 10 minutes duration at each load
stage. The five load stages are 500 Pa or 10.5 psf,
700 Pa or 14.7 psf, 1,000 Pa or 21 psf, 1,600 Pa
or 33.5 psf and 2,500 Pa or 52.4 psf. There was
no water leakage up to the final stage of 2,500
Pa for a total duration of 50 minutes achieving
the Top Grade in accordance with the Chinese Standard.
For the purpose of comparison, in the USA, the AAMA
recommended maximum load for water test is 12 psf
and the test duration is 15 minutes. The Chinese
requirements are much more severe than USA in both
pressure and duration.
Structural Wind Load Tests
The tests were conducted in load stages up to the
design wind load of +3,000 Pa (62.9 psf) and -4,600
Pa -96.4 psf). The deflection data were recorded
at each load stage. The test results indicated that
all the deflection data were well within the allowable
limit.
Story Drift (Seismic) Tests
The maximum Chinese requirement for the test is
story height/100 (L/100). After the L/100 test,
the curtain wall system is allowed to fail and the
only requirement is no broken components falling
off the mock-up. The test results indicated no damage
to the TingWall™ system at all.
Water Tests with Pulsatory Pressures
In accordance with the Chinese Standard, there is
no need for conducting water test after the L/100
Story Drift Tests. Therefore, this test represents
the condition of beyond the Standard. There was
no water leakage up to a maximum pulsatory pressure
of 1,600 Pa or 33.5 psf.
Wind Overload Tests
The maximum load of +4,500 Pa (94.3 psf) and -6,400
Pa (-134.2 psf) were applied to the mock-up and
the curtain wall system is allowed to fail with
the only requirement of no broken components falling
off the mock-up. The test results indicated no damage
to the TingWall™ system at all.
The mock-up structure was disassembled and shipped
to Japan for re-assembling and re-tests in accordance
with the Japanese Building Standard scheduled in
March 2003. To re-test a mock-up after sustaining
the theoretical ultimate load tests (Story Drift
at L/100 and Wind Overload at -6,400 Pa) is extremely
unusual - indeed this may be the first in the history
of curtain wall performance testing. A successful
re-test would strongly indicate the non-destructive
nature and the long-term performance nature of the
TingWall™ system.
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