Research, testing and product development · Lesson 1 of 4

Research testing and product development: tested, calculated or claimed

The four ways to prove a requirement, verification versus validation, what ES-1 is for, how to read a reported test number, and why AFS refuses to estimate a capacity without a lab report.

You will be able to: Tell a claim from a calculation from a test, separate verification from validation, and say what one test result does and does not prove.

12 min · 12 slides · 8 questions

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Slide 1 of 12

Tested, calculated or just claimed

SPRI's draft paper on ES-1 testing says to check a claim of ES-1 compliance by requesting a copy of the product's test report or an ES-1 certificate from the fabricator.

Until a report backs it, "ES-1 tested" on a flyer is only a claim.

SPRI's ES-1 FAQ gives its opinion that ES-1 testing should be performed on systems as manufactured by a given fabricator.

Sources

Glossary

Test standard: A standard that says how to load a specimen and what counts as failure, not what a building needs. ANSI/SPRI/FM 4435/ES-1 gives the basic requirements for resistance testing of roof edge systems under simulated wind load conditions.
Verification: In NASA's Systems Engineering Handbook, proof of compliance with requirements: that a product can meet each "shall" statement, shown by test, analysis, inspection or demonstration.
Validation: In NASA's Systems Engineering Handbook, showing that a product accomplishes its intended purpose in its intended environment.
Independent laboratory: A testing laboratory separate from the maker. ES-1's commentary says any roof edge system may be used provided an independent testing laboratory tests it to meet the wind design requirements.
Repeatability: In the NIST handbook, the basic precision of a gauge, computed from groups of repeated measurements of the same thing.