Suggestions for adaptations of existing European norms for testing the resistance of windows and glazed façades to explosive effects

It is important to protect critical infrastructure buildings, such as shopping centres, government buildings and embassies as well as structures of traffic infrastructure (networks and utilities) from being damaged, destroyed or disrupted by deliberate acts of terrorism, criminal activity and malicious behaviour. Normal regulations and building guidelines do not generally take into account these unexpected threats. The introduction of appropriate regulations or guidelines, where deemed necessary, should enhance the resilience of buildings and infrastructures against explosion incidents. In order to protect the built infrastructure, testing methods are required which can answer the question as to whether specific building elements can withstand extraordinary high loading conditions created by an explosive event. The applicable state-of-the-art techniques may include either experimental or numerical methods, or a combination of both. Therefore, the thematic group (TG) on the resistance of structures to explosion effects was formed in order to bring the required expertise, to make it accessible and to find and define harmonised methods and solutions which can be provided to the decision-makers responsible for critical infrastructure protection. The TG described in a first report [JRC87202] the physical phenomena which have to be understood in order to ensure proper testing of the building elements and correct interpretation of the results. In a second step, the differences between the existing standards for testing blast-resistant glazing and windows have been derived, and a basis for fundamental recommendations for the future development of the suite of European Standards has been addressed [JRC94930]. It describes recommendations for improvements of the current test standards. The report at hand takes the findings of the report [JRC94930] into account. It formulates suggestions for the implementation of improvements of existing testing standards for the evaluation of explosive resistance of security glazing products. New and adapted text passages are provided as suggestions for improvements. Thereby the structure and the format of the existing testing standards EN13123-1 and EN13124-1 were taken as the basis. Thus, the original formulations and the suggestions for adaptations are provided in one document. This document presents only the suggestions for the modifications of the shock tube testing procedure. The recommended modifications to the existing standards EN13123-2 and EN13124-2 for arena testing based on the findings of [JRC94930] will be presented in another document.