Glass curtain wall makes the modern buildings so impressive nowadays

Due to the distinctive attractiveness in terms of aesthetics, construction time, building cost, and high functional performance, glass curtain walls are most unlikely to become the favorite facade to be used in the modern buildings today.

Technically speaking, curtain wall is defined as an external wall of the building structure that doesn’t support the weight but merely serves to divide the inside of a building from the outside. As a rule of thumb, if you see a multi-story building with a lot of floor-to-ceiling glass windows in its facade, you are probably looking at a curtain wall (because glass is not usually strong enough to support the weight). Furthermore, curtain walls are connected to the building frames by vertical elements called mullions, which can help to support the weight of the curtain wall structures, like glass panels, aluminum siding, or whatever other materials that comprise the curtain wall. In practical applications, curtain wall is non-structural that can be made of lightweight materials, thereby reducing construction costs. When glass glazing is used for the curtain wall, an obvious advantage is that natural light can penetrate deeper inside the building. Furthermore, the curtain wall facade does not carry any structural load from the building other than its own dead load weight. The wall transfers lateral wind loads that are incident upon it to the main building structure through connections at floors or columns of the building. Curtain wall facade is mostly designed to resist air and water infiltration, absorb sway induced by wind and seismic forces acting on the building, withstand wind loads, and support its own dead load weight forces.

As it is well acknowledged, curtain walls differ from traditional storefront systems in applications, since they are mostly designed to span multiple floors, taking into consideration design requirements such as: thermal expansion and contraction; building sway and movement; water diversion; and thermal efficiency for cost-effective heating, cooling, and lighting in the building. Modern glass curtain wall systems are typically designed with extruded aluminum framing members, although the first curtain walls were made with steel frames. The aluminum frame is typically infilled with glass, which provides an architecturally pleasing building, as well as benefits such as daylighting. Dong Peng Bo Da Steel Pipe Group is a famous steel pipe manufacturer in China. We are committed to producing various types of steel products for your choice in your building project in future. Our products are all designed for the fast and easy installation of curtain walls. Contact us if you have any need in your project.