Design and Performance Testing of a Skylight in Qatar

Abstract

The current paper deals with an overview on façade industry with the purpose to be useful for the engineers involved in the structural and architectural design of curtain walls.The research activity has been based on both the structural calculation and the experimental test on the Le Boulevard skylight in Doha (Qatar), measuring 36m by 18m in plan, located at a height of about 42 m and subjected to a wind load of 1.7 KPa. The skylight, composed of steel rectangular curved tubes, glass and aluminium sandwich panels, is designed for a basic wind speed of 25 m/s as per Qatar Construction Standards. Two types of steel frames have been designed, one to support both the glazing and aluminium sandwich panel, and another to transfer all the loads to the main structure. Subsequently, a performance testing on a specimen extracted from the skylight has been performed. The test was carried out by Aluminium Technology Auxilliary Ind. (ALUTEC) on a specimen having length and width of 6.625 m and 3.315 m, respectively. The assessment procedures have been carried out following the “ASTM E283”, “ASTM E331” and “ASTM E330” standards. The results of the test have been found within the acceptable limits for the skylight components specified by the standards and required by the project specification.