Structural silicone glazing: optimizing future designs based on historical performances

This article highlights the advantages of structural silicone use on a smart façade for attaching glass that is part of a curtainwall or window wall glazing system. This is written for the façade engineer/designer so that maximum performance can be designed into the envelope to maximize transparency, thermal performance, and natural and manmade impact performance, while maintaining the integrity of air infiltration, water infiltration, and structural performance. References are provided for the façade engineer/designer to allow a deeper literature search for validation of performance. Fifty years of in-service structural performance and experience has shown this system is extremely durable. Reviewing the standards that exist today helps one understand past success while also paving the way to the future. Design tools for façades now include finite element analysis that can analyze structural silicones for the hyperelastic properties that they possess, acting in conjunction with framing and glazing assemblies. Thermal analysis of the system in the design phase in conjunction with material selection can provide a pathway for optimizing thermal performance and condensation resistance of the façade while maximizing transparency.