The best way to get a sense for our testing approach is to come and take a tour of our facility (it’s almost as good as a brewery tour, just without the free tastings at the end). To give you an example of what you would see, let’s take a shear wall as an example:
- Step 1 - We test a shear wall prototype vertically to traditional industry standards monotonically and/or cyclically using established standards (ASTM E 564 or ASTM E2126).
- Step 2 - The shear wall is then placed in a real 16-foot wide x 30-foot long structure that includes four walls and a roof.
- Step 3 - That shear wall is tested monotonically and/or cyclically, parallel with and perpendicular to the roof trusses.
- Step 4 - That shear wall's real-life performance is compared to the ASTM standard performance.
- Step 5 - Calibration is performed and design values are created that have relevance to field applications.