Design and application principles of aluminium curtain wall systems: A research on Poland buildings

Technological developments have affected the construction sector in the last century, since the utilization of stick-built systems as structural members, led the construction sector into a radical change. In the light of recent technological developments in aluminum and glass industries, there have been various new approaches towards the aluminum curtain wall systems which are mostly preferred by architects to traditional masonary walls. Curtain wall is a type of wall which usually consists of vertical and horizontal structural members, connected together and fixed to the floor supporting structure of the building to form a lightweight space enclosing continuous skin, which provides, by itself or in conjunction with the building construction all the normal functions of the external wall but doesn't take on any of the load bearing characteristics of the building. According to the regulations of many European Union countries in case of buildings for a specific purpose, (e.g. schools, hospitals, hotels) or buildings with significant height; curtain walls as a non-load bearing elements of building should be designed and constructed in such a way that in case of subjecting to any external factors, it will limit the side effects, and sustain the users safety and comfort inside the building. The categorization of the aluminum curtain wall systems is a key point discussed in this research. The preferred performance expected from the building envelope, can be achieved by the right selection of the curtain wall system. Esssentially, for choosing a suitable system; the concept of the curtain wall systems should be perceived. In this research; firstly, a literature review has been performed on the aluminum curtain wall systems, respect to the construction techniques and design methods. Secondly, the systems have been evaluated in terms of application systems, noise control and environmental factors. Thirdly, for accomplishing the evaluation's results, there is used a case study; consists of eight façades covered by different aluminum curtain wall systems, where located in the big cities of Poland. Finally, based on the obtained results, the appropriate aluminum curtain wall systems have been introduced build on the mentioned factors.