Differing from present structural design procedures, most of the existing glass windows and even historic components in traditional/old buildings are not specifically designed to resist possible accidental loads. Rather thin monolithic ordinary annealed glass panels can be found in vertical non-structural envelopes, where they are often arranged to cover large surfaces. As such, an accidental glass fracture could originate even from rather common and moderate impact events and result in severe risk for people, due to propagation of dangerous shards from these vulnerable and fragile building components. To assess potential risks and support possible mitigation strategies, the present study is focused on the bird-strike analysis of existing/historic linearly restrained non-structural glass windows, based on a parametric Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH)–Finite Element (FE) model. Starting from a 1 m–wide and 1.5 m–high configuration, the attention is first given to various influencing parameters, such as impactor features (mass, 0.35–1.81 kg; impact speed, 0–40 m/s; and, thus, impact energy) and the target window (glass thickness, 4–6 mm; impact point; and, thus, glass stiffness). Local and global effects due to parametric localized bird-strikes are discussed based on non-linear dynamic numerical analyses and in terms of expected deflections, tensile stress peaks, and damage extension/severity (i.e., D1 to D3 damage levels). Scale effects are also examined for a case-study historic envelope (≈7 m in total size, 5 mm in thickness), and one of its 2.58 m × 3.3 m large glass components. Furthermore, a simplified empirical approach based on analytical formulations and normalized charts is proposed for a preliminary vulnerability assessment of historic monolithic glass envelopes, including parameters to account for impactor features and glass panel size/thickness, based on vibration-frequency considerations.

Bird-strike analysis is of particular relevance for aircraft engineering applications, where major wing or fuselage components may suffer for possible collision during flying stage and result in serious structural damage. To this aim, the Federal Aviation Regulations requires dedicated bird-strike resistance assessment tests and certifications. In building applications, glass is also largely used for vertical and horizontal load-bearing components. In such a kind of structural design context, major attention is given to wind pressure, seismic loads, impact due to crowd and human body (i.e., to prevent falling out), or even explosions, and rather null consideration is posed for bird-strike analysis, due to their expected limited impact forces and effects on glass. This paper investigates such a topic giving evidence of the dynamic response of an existing glass facade built in 60 s as a part of a museum in Italy. The vulnerability analysis is carried out with computationally efficient Finite Element (FE) numerical models of consolidated use for bird-strike, based also on preliminary mechanical characterization from in-field geometrical inspection and Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) experiments. Local and global dynamic effects due to localized bird-strike on the examined glass facade are discussed based on parametric numerical analysis from Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian (CEL) method.

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The research focuses on the sustainability of industrial buildings, providing a review of the main problems in terms of energy and environmental quality, through the application of the assessment tools in force in the territorial context. The general overview of industrial buildings in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia is followed by the survey of the typological and constructive aspects of buildings in one industrial district (Maniago, PN). The identified building stock is analysed according to the sustainability criteria, on the basis of the energy and environmental audit of some sample buildings.