Evaluation of AS 1288 Standards for Glass Selection and Installation

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the Australian Standard AS 1288, focusing on the selection and installation of glass in buildings. It explores the importance of glass as a construction material, highlighting its sustainability and recyclability. The report delves into the specific standards outlined by the Australian Department of Construction, ensuring safety during construction and the building's service life. It classifies different types of glass, including annealed, toughened, and heat-strengthened glass, according to AS/NZS 4667 and BS-952-1. The report emphasizes the significance of surface compression values and testing methods like ASTM C1279 for toughened and heat-strengthened glass. Furthermore, it examines the application of these standards, particularly for toughened glass, and how they contribute to safety by controlling breakage patterns and limiting injury risks. The conclusion underscores the importance of adhering to these standards to ensure safety in the construction industry. References to relevant research papers are included to support the analysis.

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Introduction
During all their lifetimes, building needs a lot of energy. This begins from the site of the
construction to demolition. The sector of the building and construction has been responsible for
the large percentage emission of the greenhouse gas besides consuming huge quantity of water
and energy resources. This is the reason why the material which is used for the construction has
gained vital role in the sustainability discourse (Arulrajah et al 2017). The principle remedy that
is applied is always very simple: Use of materials which are renewable and that have very little
impacts to the environment other than the already existing conventional ones. The identified
materials should be able to meet the required architectural as well as structures properties.
Glass is a traditional material that has long history of application in the Australian construction
and building sectors. It has had several improvements including reintroduction into the site of
construction thanks to its properties of the sustain abilities. High recyclability as well as low
process energy requirement has increased the potential of glass as a major material for the
construction. Similarly, the demand of the transparent envelopes which is considerably growing
has resulted into the massive applications of this material as a component of façade.
Identification of the Australian Standards
In order to ensure that safety standards are adhered to during the period of the construction as
well as service life of the building/structure, Australian Department of the construction have laid
down some of the standards t be used for guidance (Arulrajah et al.2017). The standards clearly
spell the procedure for the installation after selection of the glass as a building material. The
evaluation is considered alongside the boundary conditions which include human impacts,

exposure to wind loading and other applications which are considered special. Such applications
include balustrades, overhead glazing and glass assemblies.
Outline of the standards and reasons for their use
In general, there is recognition of glass by the Australian Standards. Tinted heat-absorbing glass,
clear ordinary annealed glass, wired, laminated, processed and toughened glass must be
classified as per the standards of AS/NZS4667. The types of glasses which are not specified as
per AS/NZS4667 or AS/NZS4668 must be recognized in accordance with BS-952-1
Toughened glass is expected to have a surface compression of values more than 69MPa. It is
important to remember that toughening of the glass is done so that the strength of the glass can
be increased. The determination of the stress of the surface compression will follow ASTM
C1279.This important since the cracking usually occur after the value of this stress is exceeded.
For safety use of glass, the value must be established.
Heat-strengthened glass must be test in accordance with ASTMC1279 with its surface
compression value maintained between 24-52MPa. The materials for safety glazing must be
made in accordance with AS/NZS 208. As long as the safety materials for glazing comply with
AS/NZS 208 they can be used even if the thickness is non-standard. This is allowed provided
there is a marked value of this thickness on the surface of the glass alongside the markings of
AS/NZS 208 standards. The glass units for insulation must be made in accordance with as/NZS
4666 (Yu et al.2016).
In the cases where the test data is absence, the following properties must be established:
 Poisson’s ration of 0.22

 Density of 2500Kg/m3
 Torsional Elastic Modulus of 28.7 GPa
 Linear Elastic modulus of 70GPa
Application and attributes
It is undeniable fact that glass has had long history of application in the Australian construction
and building sectors. It has had several improvements including reintroduction into the site of
construction thanks to its properties of the sustain abilities (Navaratnam et al.2019). High
recyclability as well as low process energy requirement has increased the potential of glass as a
major material for the construction. Similarly, the demand of the transparent envelopes which is
considerably growing has resulted into the massive applications of this material as a component
of façade. The Australian Standards of the construction has effectively provided guidance on the
type of the glasses to be used on the specific types of the structures in the construction industry.
How the standards applies to the Toughed Glass
The application of the Australian standards on the Toughened glass as per ASTM C1279 has
significantly contributed to safety. In the cases of glass breakage, the fracturing of the toughened
glass will take place into very small fragments which are very harmless as opposed to the
annealed glass. It is important to note that once the glass has fractured, the glass will not be able
to effectively prevent the pieces penetration on the object on which it will fall or the person
particularly on the floor level (Maghool et al .2017). It is recommended that one uses suitable
mechanisms of protection like walk boards, roof ladders, fall arrests or safety mesh when
accessing the toughened overhead glass as per the standards of ASTM C1279.

The behaviour of breaking of toughened glass has been effectively characterized by harmless
small particles formation (Amirebrahimi, et al.2016). Through the standards sets by ASTM
C1279, effective methods of framing have been laid out to prevent specific types of the
breakage. This is the case when prediction is done concerning clumping of small particles
together to allow for the formation of long splines of glass. It has been predicted that breakage
pattern occurrence are likely to increase the injury risks. The ASTM C1279 standards have
effectively limited the use of toughened glass to lower height applications with less space
occupation frequency.
Conclusion
The study has effectively reviewed the existing Australian standards regarding the use of glass a
construction materials. It has been established that glass has been classified into various
categories depending on the primary characteristics. The recommendation regarding uses of glass
on different classes of building and categories of construction has been done based on the type of
the glass (Adaway and Wang 2015). The government of Australia through the department of the
building and construction strictly advocate for full adherence to these standards so as to enhance
safety in the industry of the construction.

REFERENCES
Adaway, M. and Wang, Y., 2015. Recycled glass as a partial replacement for fine aggregate in
structural concrete–Effects on compressive strength. Electronic Journal of structural
engineering, 14(1), pp.116-122.
Amirebrahimi, S., Rajabifard, A., Mendis, P. and Ngo, T., 2016. A framework for a microscale
flood damage assessment and visualization for a building using BIM–GIS
integration. International Journal of Digital Earth, 9(4), pp.363-386.
Arulrajah, A., Yaghoubi, E., Imteaz, M. and Horpibulsuk, S., 2017. Recycled waste foundry sand
as a sustainable subgrade fill and pipe-bedding construction material: Engineering and
environmental evaluation. Sustainable cities and society, 28, pp.343-349.
Maghool, F., Arulrajah, A., Du, Y.J., Horpibulsuk, S. and Chinkulkijniwat, A., 2017.
Environmental impacts of utilizing waste steel slag aggregates as recycled road construction
materials. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 19(4), pp.949-958.
Navaratnam, S., Ngo, T., Gunawardena, T. and Henderson, D., 2019. Performance review of
prefabricated building systems and future research in Australia. Buildings, 9(2), p.38.
Yu, X., Tao, Z., Song, T.Y. and Pan, Z., 2016. Performance of concrete made with steel slag and
waste glass. Construction and Building Materials, 114, pp.737-746.