MIL-STD-810F
1 January 2000
SUPERSEDING
MIL-STD-810E
14 JULY 1989
Contains revisions in Change Notice 2.
FOREWORD
This test method standard is approved for use by all Departments and Agencies of the Department of Defense (DoD). Although prepared specifically for DoD applications, this standard may be tailored for commercial applications as well. MIL-STD-810F is a significant revision of MIL-STD-810E. Much of the standard is rewritten completely to provide clearer direction. The primary emphases are still the same -- tailoring a materiel item's environmental design and test limits to the conditions that the specific materiel will experience throughout its service life, and establishing chamber test methods that replicate the effects of environments on materiel rather than imitating the environments themselves. However, the "F" revision has been expanded significantly up front to explain how to implement the environmental tailoring process throughout the materiel acquisition cycle.
This revision recognizes that the environmental design and test tailoring process has expanded to involve a wide range of managerial and technical interests. Accordingly, this revision orients environmental design and test direction toward three basic types of users who have distinctly different, although closely associated, interests: program managers who, among other responsibilities, ensure proposed concepts and systems are valid and functional in intended operational environments; environmental engineering specialists (EES), who enter the acquisition process early to assist combat and materiel developer tailoring efforts by preparing life cycle environmental profiles and drafting tailored design criteria and test programs, and the design, test, and evaluation community, whose analysts, engineers, and facility operators use tailored designs and tests to meet user needs.
The most visible difference in the "F" revision is that the overall document is in two parts.
Part One describes management, engineering, and technical roles in the environmental design and test tailoring process. It focuses on the process of tailoring materiel design and test criteria to the specific environmental conditions a materiel item is likely to encounter during its service life. New appendices support the succinctly presented text of Part One. Appendix A contains complete descriptions of environmental engineering tasks. These tasks, along with management information in Appendix B and EES guidance in Appendix C, will help to ensure the environmental design and test tailoring process is implemented and documented according to the disciplined, but flexible approach to materiel acquisition called for in Department of Defense (DoD) 5000-series documents (DoDD 5000.1). Terms used in this standard relating to the materiel acquisition process are limited to terms used in the DoD 5000-series documents; to avoid confusion and promote simplicity, service-specific terms/processes are not used.
Part Two contains environmental laboratory test methods to be applied according to the general and specific test tailoring guidelines described in Part One. It is important to emphasize that these methods are not to be called out in blanket fashion nor applied as unalterable routines, but are to be selected and tailored to generate the most relevant test data possible. Part Two is not included as part of this electronic version of MIL-STD-810F; however a list of the included methods is included as a reference.
To support the tailoring process described in Part One, each test method in Part Two contains some environmental data and references, and identifies tailoring opportunities for the particular method. Some methods afford a wide latitude for tailoring; some can be tailored up to established limits, and some have relatively few tailoring options. Whenever possible, each method contains background rationale to help determine the appropriate level of tailoring. Each test method supports the test engineer and test facility operator by describing preferred laboratory test facilities and methodologies. Any specific tailoring information and values contained in these test methods should be supplanted by more up-to-date or program-specific information when available.
When applied properly, the environmental management and engineering processes described in this standard can be of enormous value in generating confidence in the environmental worthiness and overall durability of materiel system design. However, it is important to recognize that there are limitations inherent in laboratory testing that make it imperative to use proper caution and engineering judgement when extrapolating these laboratory results to results that may be obtained under actual service conditions. In many cases, real-world environmental stresses (singularly or in combination) cannot be duplicated practically or reliably in test laboratories. Therefore, users should not assume that a system or component that passes laboratory tests of this standard also would pass field/fleet verification trials. DoD 5000-series documents call for component technology to be demonstrated in relevant environments to reduce risk on components and subsystems which have been demonstrated only in laboratory environments (DoDI 5000.2).
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