Glass Design Loads

Prior to designing buildings and its components, it is necessary to have an understanding of requirements specified for every phase of the building. ASCE 7 is the standard that provides requirements for dead, live, soil, flood, wind, snow, rain, ice and earthquake loads, and their combinations that are suitable for inclusion in building codes and other documents. The ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) 7 Standard assigns the minimum design loads for buildings and other structures, which are necessary for determining the type and thickness of glass required for an application.

Regional impact codes (which encompass building, hurricane, seismic and overhead glazing) also indicate design loads required for determining glass strength requirements.