October 8, 2019
Rolling Steel Doors with Miami-Dade County Product Approvals.
Rolling Steel products are mainly used to cover the envelope (exterior) of a building, for the most part, in many cases the rolling doors are the last barrier against wind inside a building. In order to effectively combat the wind forces of storms and Tornados Rolling doors and other exterior products go through testing of Impact and Cyclic winds to ensure usability during a storm.
In order to obtain a Miami-Dade County NOA (Notice of acceptance) for use in HVHZ (High-Velocity Hurricane Zones) the product needs to go through cyclic testing which mimics winds of 175 mph against the door with 3-second gusts. In addition, the doors need to be impacted with a 2×4 wood at 50 FPS (feet per second) to achieve level D impact testing at the very least. In order to do so the product or in this case the Rolling Door needs to be installed in a laboratory to replicate a storm and be able to withstand the wind speed and the impact testing. These procedures are done in accordance with the 2017 Florida Building Code -Test Protocols for High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, Sixth Edition, and TAS 301-94 testing procedures.
The specific testing done is as follow :
TAS 201, which covers impact test procedures, provides a means of determining whether the door or exterior product used on the exterior of a building can be used as external protection to maintain the envelope of the building intact and resist wind-borne debris. Below is a video with an example of how TAS 201 is done.
TAS 202 refers to the static pressures applied to the product to which it will be used at service conditions, it applies negative and positive wind loads to the product, This test consists of supplying air to exhaust from a chamber in accordance with specific test pressures measure in PSF (Pound per square foot) at the rate required to maintain the pressures across the door.
While the testing might be a bit complex and require an extensive lab. hours and engineering paperwork once the product is approved it can be used Statewide and in any High-velocity Hurricane zone across the nation. Each job is different and some might require higher security against the wind than others, for example, many government agencies require a Level Impact E which is the same as above TAS 201 but the impact has to be done at 80 FPS (Foot per second) instead of 50 FPS, this assures the product has a higher level of security and impact than Level D.
Whichever the case might be we can help you determine which option for industrial doors in Miami is the best solution for your next project. Feel free to give us a call or send us an email and we will be glad to assist further.