"The performance characteristics of curtain walls: from on-site checks to final acceptance tests"

Curtain walls, as technical elements of the building envelope with a high constructive complexity, are subject to tests on site that concern both the installation and the final testing phases. These tests are appropriate to verify the compliance of the performances, for example required by the specifications, or made necessary to prove the assumptions of the designer in the executive design phase first, and then in the construction phase. This article describes, in brief, the main tests carried out on stick and unitized curtain wall systems, both for transparent and opaque configurations. The important role that these building systems play within the building organism requires a series of instrumental tests on site, involving a great number of topics, such as the degree of air permeability, water tightness, mechanical, thermal and acoustic behaviour