April 2, 2021
The most obvious way to verify compliance of fenestration products with code requirements for structural strength under wind pressure loading, often based on commercial-grade requirements of the North American Fenestration Standard, is laboratory testing. However, when a specific project calls for non-standard configurations such as larger or smaller sizes, variations in framing configuration or higher wind pressure levels than those of the tested baseline assembly, it can be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming to test all such variations.
Accordingly, the Fenestration & Glazing Industry Alliance offers a standardized process for engineering evaluation of windows and doors, in the form of AAMA 2502-19, Comparative Analysis Procedure for Window and Door Products, an FGIA standard. Approved as a reference standard in the International Building Code, AAMA 2502 sets forth engineering design rules by which commercial products that differ from the test unit can be q