Study on Exterior Wall Tile Degradation Conditions of High-rise Buildings in Taoyuan City

Abstract

In recent years in Taiwan, pedestrians have been injured by external wall tiles falling from high-rise buildings. In numerous cases, exposure to temperature and/or seismic behavior caused the tiles to fall off. This is now treated as a public safety threat. Therefore, in 2015, the Office of Building Administration of the Taoyuan City Government started inspecting buildings that were eleven stories or higher and constructed before 1996. From 2015 to 2016, the authors inspected 298 high-rise buildings for external wall tile failures in the city as contract research. We put building risk into Levels from A to E. Levels D and E accounted for 41.6% of the 298 buildings. These were dangerous buildings that needed to be repaired immediately. Additionally, we analyzed our data based on building age, number of stories, exterior materials, the directions walls faced, and city districts. Of the buildings inspected, 84% were between 20 and 25 years old. Approximately 74% were 11 to 15 stories high. Moreover, 74.5% used tiles such as mosaic, square brick, Nikogake, or half of Nikogake. Also, 44.3% of degraded buildings were in Taoyuan District. The authors hope that the research results are a useful reference for inspection systems and that they will lead to periodic inspections.