Performance of a single glazing assembly exposed to a fire in the centre of an enclosure

The result of 14 experiments in which a single glazing assembly was exposed to fires of increasing severity in the centre of an enclosure are presented. The glazing assembly was exposed to a two zone fire enclosure environment with consistency and repeatability within each set of three experiments conducted at each fire severity level evident from the enclosure gas temperature profiles. The results presented include heat release rates, enclosure and local gas temperature, heat flux distribution, glass surface temperatures, shaded glass temperatures, thermally induced strains, crack bifurcation patterns and loss of integrity of the glazing assembly. Limits regarding the maximum incident heat fluxes required to cause catastrophic failure of the glazing assembly are suggested. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.