Full-Scale Experimental Study on the Integrity of Tempered Glass Protected by Different Sprinkler Systems in High-Rise Building Fire

Tempered glass is a building material often used in curtain walls and windows of high-rise buildings. Tempered glass is easily damaged by high temperature and thermal radiation in a fire, creating a channel for flame spread. The breakage mechanism of glass is rarely studied under the protection of different sprinkler system. Therefore, three sprinkler systems were used to observe their protection effect on tempered glass at different operating pressures and layouts in a full-scale (5 m (length) × 4.5 m (width) × 3.2 m (height)) compartment fire. The square pool of 1 m² was used as the fire source, and the fuel was n-heptane. The results show that glass is not only heated by smoke, but may also directly contact with flames. There are two thermal breakage mechanisms for window glass under different protection conditions. The sprinkler system significantly reduces the temperature outside the window even if the glass cracks or bursts. The interaction of the glass boundary and the water flow trajectory has a decisive influence on the final protection effect in addition to the three key factors including the sprinkler type, operating pressure and layout. This research provides a mature and reliable tempered glass protection scheme for relevant designers.