1. DURABILITY OF AIR AND WATER-TIGHTNESS PERFORMANCES : FET Project T117-99

• The conventional method of performance evaluation is based on one cycle of tests only. This is why test performance can not be equated to real building performance.
• In order to prove that test performance of TingWall can be equated to real building performance, the TingWall mock-up was tested nine times during 1999 (2/22/99 to 7/21/99) without any repair and without any degradation of air and water-tightness performance. The basic test cycle involved ASTM E-283 (Air Test), ASTM E-331 (Water Test), ASTM E-330 (Wind Load Test), and Seismic Story Drift Test.

2. TOLERANCE OF STORY DRIFT: FET Project No. T160-00

• In a conventional curtain wall system, story drift would cause sealant line and in-fill panel stresses leading to sealing functional or structural failures. According to the International Code Council (previously ICBO), the building frame could have a maximum story drift of L/40 and accordingly, the only requirement for the curtain wall is no falling component and functional or localized structural failure is permitted.
• In order to prove that TingWall uses panel drifts to absorb the story drift with insignificant stresses, the TingWall mock-up was tested six times during 2000 (5/9/00 to 8/15/00) with story drift of L/40 without any repair and without system failure. The test at each time involved three cycles of left-to-right story drift.

3. STRUCTURAL TESTS: FET Project No. T220-00

• In a conventional curtain wall system, two adjacent in-fill panels are secured by a common frame member at the panel butt joint, therefore, the structural performance of the system is affected by the structural interactions between two adjacent panels. The passing parameter for structural safety under wind load condition is set at the maximum load of 1.5 times of the design wind load without structural failure using ASTM E-330 test method. This parameter is inadequate for verifying the required safety factor of fasteners especially in consideration of fastener stress fatigue problem.
• Due to the fact that each TingWall panel is an independent structural body and near zero panel fastener reaction due to wind load, using ASTM E-72 for failure load test becomes applicable for determining the failure load and failure mode. The mock-up tests involved TingWall Aluminum Plate, Vision Glass, and Spandrel Glass Systems. The failure loads ranged from 213 psf to 396 psf and all without panel frame failure or panel frame disengagement from the supporting mullions.
• The safety enhancing behavior of pressure venting has been verified in ASTM E-330 TingWall mock-up test.

4. SPECIAL TESTS: FET Project No. T130-00

• The reason for the IBM renovation (Rochester, MN) project is the persistent water leakage problem. The reasons for selecting TingWall for the project include the elimination of building hole problem during renovation by converting existing mullions into TingWall mullions and the Airloop Principle of TingWall System.
• In order to prove the above, the mock-up used adaptors on the existing mullion and purposely created broad imperfect seals resulting in excessive air leakage. The mock-up was tested four times during 2000 (from 3/2/00 to 4/17/00) without any repair and without water leakage. The special tests gave the owner assurance of long term water-tightness performance. As of 10/25/00, Phase 4 has been completed and all renovated areas have been performing to the great satisfaction of the owner (IBM).

5. EXTREME TESTS: Chinese Test Report No. F2002 (32) 0128

• Test Report written in Chinese is available upon request.
• The two story high TingWall mock-up was tested on 10/29/02 in China in accordance with the Chinese National Standard. The performance functions were all rated as No. 1 International Grade including Air Leakage Rate, Water-tightness, Wind Load Performance, and Story Drift Performance. The water-tightness test involved continuous 50 minutes of tests with 10 minutes in each of 5 load stages up to the final load stage of 2,500 Pa (52.3 psf).