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OF COMMERCE

Technology

Administration

National Institute of

Standards and Technology

J Building & F

Research Laborat

X

100

.U57

NO.838-11

1997

ACOOMPLISHME 1
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Secretary, William M. Daley

Technology Administration Mary L. Good, Undersecretary for Technology

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Arati Prabhakar, Director

March 1997

Developed by Andrew J. Fowell

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

Design Consultant: Susan Permut

NISTSP 838-11

Any mention of commercial products is

for information only; it does not imply

recommendation or endorsement by NIST.
Director's Foreword 3

Mission 5

Programmatic Thrusts 5

Selected Technical Accomplishments 6

High Performance Materials and Systems for Constructed Facilities ... 6

Automation in Construction and Constructed Facilities 16

Loss Reduction 18

Awards 24

Staff Recognition 26

NSTC Subcommittee on Construction and Building 27

U.S. Interactions

Outreach 30

Collaboration with Industry 30

Industry Consortia 30

Cooperative R&D Agreements 32

Codes and Standards 34

International Interactions 35

Japan 35

UJNR Panel on Fire Research and Safety 35

UJNR Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects 35

Panel on Innovation in the Japanese Construction Industry 36

Korea 36

Saudi Arabia 36

ISO 37

CIB 38

RILEM 38

FORUM for International Cooperation on Fire Research 38

American Concrete Institute Advisory Committee 38

Major Conferences, Seminars and Workshops 39

Finances 41

BFRL Organization 42

The Building and Fire Research Laboratory web site is

http://www.bfri.nist.gov

TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS

1996 Technical publications of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory are listed in NIST SP838-9 and are available on a CD ROM NIST SP 900.

Left: Fire test in aircraft lianger
Richard N. Wright, BFRL Director

In 1995, new

construction

was $535 billion,

8 percent of the

GDP, and provided

employment for

6 million persons

2
Director's Foreword

I he Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) of die National Institute of Standards and

-M^ Technology (NIST) has enjoyed interesting and fruitful activities in fiscal years 1995 and 1996.

We are privileged to serve the very important industries of construction. The quality and economy of constructed facilities are important to the competitiveness of all U.S. industries and everyone's quality of life. Consider how: a fire in the headquarters of a company can emperil the viability of the business as well as the lives of the occupants, moisture accumulation and fiingus in the walls of a home threaten the durability of the structure and the health of the occupants, and excessive costs of U.S. construction can cause factories and their well paying jobs to move overseas. Each of these examples is addressed by the accomplishments described herein.

The industries of construction served direcdy by NIST compose one of the nation's largest economic

activities. In 1995, new construction was $535 bUlion, 8 percent of the GDP, and provided employment

for 6 million persons. When renovation of existing facilities is included, annual investment in construction

exceeds $800 billion. The industries of construction are diverse. They include: manufacturers of materials

and equipment (such as steel, air-conditioners and excavators), planners and designers who integrate materials and equipment from many manufacturers to meet owners' and users' needs, contractors who build

the facility on its site, fire safety services and their suppliers, and regulators responsible to federal, state, or

local governments for environmental quality and public health, safety and welfare.

In this report we give substantial attention to our involvement in the work of the White House's National

Science and Technology Council. The Council is charged to coordinate and focus federal R&D to respond

effectively to national needs. We have helped to establish and lead its Subcommittee on Construction and

Building (C&B) to coordinate and define priorities for federal research, development and deployment for

the industries of construction. C&B is made up of 1 4 federal agencies which altogether conduct annually

over $500 million of construction-related R&D. C&B has worked closely with leaders of the industries

of construction to define the vision and goals for improved performance of constructed facilities and construction practices. As described in this report, these are having profound influence on the focus and effectiveness of our work.

The largest and most important parts of this report describe our major accomplishments in 1995 and

1996. We summarize these accomplishments and describe how to obtain detailed information on those

important to the reader. We also report progress on making our work more accessible to potential users and collaborators through the Internet, an award-winning video and general interest publications. We

hope you find this report interesting and useflil. We look forward to working with you and to your

comments that wUl help us improve future reports.

Richard N. Wright

Director, BFRL

3
Apparatus for measuring photodegradation effects on polymeric material
Mission

The Laboratory's mission is to eniiance tiie competitiveness of

U.S. industry and public safety by developing performance

prediction methods, measurement technologies and technical

advances needed to assure the life cycle quality and economy of

constructed facilities.

Programmatic Tlirusts

NIST's Building and Fire

Research Program focuses

on diree dirusts: High

Performance Materials and Systems

for Constructed Facilities, Automation in Construction and

Constructed Facilities and Loss

Reduction. In addition, BFRL is supporting cooperative private and

public activities to streamline regulatory processes for constructed

facilities and improve mechanisms

for the evaluation and acceptance of

innovative products and services.

High

Automation in

t and

for

Constructed

iiiti<^^,

provides for U.S. leadership in high

performance materials and systems

for constructed facilities by developing performance criteria and evaluation, measurement and test methods for structural, enclosure,

mechanical and fire protection

materials, components and systems.

These are aimed at opening the

marketplace to innovative materials

and systems for which productspecific standards do not exist.

Attention is given to life cycle performance including functionality,

economy, durability, maintainability,

recycling and fire safety.

provides for U.S. leadership in construction processes and constructed

facilities by developing technical

bases for integrated open systems

for automation and robotics in

design, construction, operations,

maintenance and renovation.

Intelligent systems offer great potential for supporting decisions and

providing automatic diagnosis and

adaptive control.

:ion,

provides for reduction of U.S. losses

of lives, property and production

due to fires, earthquakes, extreme

winds, explosions and hazardous

materials spills. Loss reduction also

supports reduction of construction

costs and U.S. leadership in products and services for disaster-resistant

constructed facilities. BFRL develops

criteria for the actions of extreme

environments; methods for predicting; measuring and assessing the

performance of new and existing

facilities; and recommendations for

standards providing cost-effective

reliability of constructed facilities.

5
The loss

resulting directly

and indirectly

from degradation

of paints by UV

and by water,

either alone or in

concert, in the

U.S. is probably

many billions of

dollars each year

Selected Technical

Accomplishments

icph

Id

iciliti

i Materials

»ms for Constructed

1.1 Photodegradation laboratory established

Based on a concept by BFRL scientist Jon Martin, a new laboratory for

assessing photodegradation effects of polymeric material was established at BFRL. The laboratory is equipped with apparatus capable, for the first time,

of controlling temperature, humidity and spectral ultraviolet irradiance

within rigid performance bounds and equipped with a robotic arm, fiber

optic cable and a spectrophotometer for automatically assessing changes in a

material's absorptivity and spectral irradiance over time. Ultraviolet radiation

degrades almost all organic materials, including paints, plastics and composites. While it is difficult to give a precise figure, the loss resulting direcdy and

indirectly from degradation of paints by UV and by water, either alone or in

concert, in the U.S. is probably many billions of dollars each year. The

results from the new laboratory will help industry develop improved methods for evaluating the effects of UV on paints and coatings.

1.2 Advances in coating adhesion

A nondestructive, spectroscopic method was developed by Tinh Ngyen for

quantifying thickness of a water layer at a coating/substrate interface. The

method is based on a two-layer model derived from evanescent wave theory.

The loss of coating adhesion is direcdy related to thickness of the water

layer, and hence to service life of polymeric systems. Failure of paints and

coatings often involves loss of adhesion caused by water that reaches the

interface with the substrate. The BFRL research has

resulted in a new method for studying water at the

interface that will help industry develop improved

methods for evaluating the effects of moisture accu- mulating at the paint/substrate interface on factors

affecting the adhesion of paints and coatings.

Experimental Setup for Measuring IVIetal Ions

at the Polymer / Substrate Interface

-Inlet

Incoming

IR beam

-IRE holder -Chamber

-Cation solution

- Polymer film

IR sensor layer

(stearic acid)

-Outlet

- Internal

reflection element

(substrate)

IRE

holder

Apparatus for measuring photodegradation effects on

polymeric material
pl8 »-<!<»« IM> H Q.

-Vapor Compression System —

m

Compressor

-^TogglQ Indicators -

SI Unite

.—Input Data .

tv&p Dew PI Tamp

Uond. Bb\ Pt TwRp.

Koy-tn Camp. Oatti

RefrignmiM nnut

Filo MQimgomenl .—Ooto Pracestirtg ,

Cycle_D Screen

Test rig for measuring cliloride diffusivity in concrete

1 .3 Chloride diffusivity of

concrete prediction model

For the first time, a model has been

developed that can predict chloride

diffusivity of concrete from fundamental principles, based on models

of the microstructure ranging from

nanometers to hundreds of millimeters. Further development and validation of this model will enable the

predicted chloride diffusivity to be

incorporated into the design stage

of concrete materials selection.

Research engineer Dale Bentz

expects that the model will help

highway engineers design reinforced

concrete bridges that will have

longer lives. This could be of great

economic importance since hundreds of thousands of U.S. bridges

are in need of repair, rehabilitation or replacement.

1.4 State-of-the-art

asphalt laboratory

established

Under the management ofJames

Pielert, the American Association of

State Highway and Transportation

Officials (AASHTO) Materials

Reference Laboratory (AMRL) has

established a state-of-the-art asphalt

laboratory which includes testing

equipment developed in the Strategic Highway Research Program.

The new equipment includes a dynamic shear rheometer, bending

beam rheometer, pressure aging vessel, and a gyratory compactor. The

unique equipment in this laboratory

will subject highway materials to

tests designed to evaluate durability.

The $150 million Strategic Highway Research Program will lead to

longer lasting asphalt highways.

Eighty per cent of new highways are constructed of asphalt.

1.5 Model for simulating

vapor compression cycles

Piotr Domanski has developed a model for simulating vapor compression cycles, CYCLE_D. Because

of its generality and friendliness, the

model can be used in diverse applications such as preliminary refrigerant screening, system design and

education and training. The model

can simulate systems using up to 38

different refrigerants and refrigerant

mixtures with up to five components. The Windows-based front

end allows easy selection of the

working fluids, operating conditions

and several modeling options. The

model is now available through the

NIST Office of Standard Reference

Data, telephone (301)975-2208, as Data Base 49 and has been distributed to more than 60 customers.

Gyratory compactor for hot mix asphalt
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

1.6 Patent on heat pump

performance enhancing

device

Distillation column, capable of changing refrigerant mixture composition in heat pumps

By controlling the

mixture composition,

the heat pump

capacity can be

modulated in

response to changes

in the outdoor

temperature

BFRL has received a patent on a device to improve the cold weather

performance of residential and light

commercial air-source heat pumps.

The device was invented by Peter

Rothfleisch to solve the problem of

a heat pump's inability to pump

enough heat to match the heat loss

of a dwelling on a cold day. Heat

pumps are normally equipped with

auxiliary electric resistance heaters,

which are turned on automatically

when needed. This resistance heating is expensive for the homeowner

and often causes a peak demand

problem for the utility. The patented device is a distillation column

that when utilized with a zeotropic

refrigerant mixttire is capable of

changing the refrigerant mixture

composition. By controlling the

mixture composition, the heat

pump capacity can be modulated in

response to changes in the outdoor

temperature. Thus, the distillation

column enables the heat pump to

maintain acceptable performance

Detail of distillation column

over a much wider temperature

range and reduces the need for resis- tance heating. In tests to date in the

BFRL laboratory, a heat pump with

the distillation column has shown a 12% increase in capacity, a 9%

decrease in peak energy demand

and an estimated reduction in seasonal energy demand of 5%. The

potential improvement with other

refrigerant mixtures is greater. An

added benefit of changing the

refrigerant composition is that a warmer discharge air temperature can be delivered to the conditioned

space. Leading U.S. manufacturers

have visited and taken a keen interest in the development formtilated

from environmentally acceptable

components.

1.7 Advanced vacuum

insulation panels

BFRL completed the testing of two

types of advanced insulation products. Hunter Fanney, working under

a cooperative research and development agreement with Aladdin

Industries, tested three metal-clad

vacuLun insulation panels using a

calorimetric technique. In addition

to the experimental work, a finite

element parametric smdy was con- ducted for Aladdin Industries to evaluate various design

options. Working cooperatively with Lawrence Berkeley

Laboratories, Krypton and

Xenon gas-filled panels were

tested for a range of environmental conditions. These gasfilled panels had a thermal

resistance five times greater

than that of glass-fiber insulation. The results of this work

were presented at the Inter- national CFC and Halon

Alternative Conference and

the Building Environment

and Thermal Envelope

Council Conference. The first application of this technology

will be in applications where

space is the first priority such

as the walls of refrigerator-freezers.

The U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency has estimated that by incorporating this technology in all major

refrigerator-freezer units, $ 1 billion of

electrical energy would be saved on

an annual basis.

8
The photovoltaic

solar water heating

system has provided

over 60 percent of

the energy required

to heat water for a

family of four since it

became operational

in June 1995

Top: Solar

collection array Bottom: Solar

powered domestic

water heater

1.8 Photovoltaic solar

water heating system

A photovoltaic solar water heating

system, based on a patent issued to

Hunter Fanney and Peter Dougherty

in March 1 994, has been constructed

and monitored at BFRL. The system

has provided over 60 percent of the

energy required to heat water for a family of four since it became operational in June 1995- The system

avoids durability issues associated with

solar thermal hot water systems such

as freezing, loss of the heat transfer

fluid and the failure of moving parts.

A detailed computer simulation

model has been developed to predict

the performance of this novel system

for various geographical locations and

system designs. A second system was

installed at the Florida Solar Energy

Center in Cocoa Beach, Fla., to showcase the technology at a premier solar

energy laboratory, collect additional

experimental data to validate computer simulation models, and determine

the performance of the system under

different meteorological conditions.

The system became operational on

December 1, 1995. Experimental

data was collected for 1 2 continuous

months. A third system has been

installed at the Sugarlands Visitor

Center of the Great Smoky

Mountains National Park near Gadinburg, Tenn. There are approximately 90 million residential water

heaters currently in use within the

U.S. Approximately 7.5 million units

are sold each year. A 5 percent market

penetration would result in sales in excess of 4.5 million photovoltaic

solar water heaters representing a market value of approximately $8 billion.

If it is assumed that all of the photovoltaic solar water heating systems were used to supplement electric

water heaters, the annual savings to

electric utility consumers would be

$1.5 billion.

1 .9 improved thermal

conductivity measurement

capability

The Materials Reliability Division in

Boulder, Colo, transferred two thermal conductivity apparatuses, a low

temperature and a high temperature

guarded hot plate to BFRL. Both

pieces of equipment determine the

steady-state thermal transmission

properties of heat insulators at temperatures significandy different from

room temperature. The low temperature apparatus is cooled with liquid

nitrogen and can attain low temperattires of lOOK. The high temperature

apparatus has been refurbished and

can attain an upper temperature of

675K. The low temperature plate has

already been used to extend the temperamre range of standard reference

material (SRM) 1450 b (high-density

insulation board) and SRM 1451

(low-density insulation blanket) down

to 1 OOK. In the future it will be used

to extend the low temperature range

of a third SRM, 1450 c and to characterize other semi-rigid thermal insulation materials for their conductivity

dependence on temperamre, pressure

and humidity. The high temperature

plate will be used to produce NIST s

first high temperature SRM.

Robert Zarr checks the thermal conductivity

apparatus

9
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

1.10 Implementation of

strategic highway

research program

technology

The BFRL American Association of

State Highway and Transportation

Officials Materials Reference

Laboratory (AMRL) is supporting

implementation of results from the

Strategic Highway Research

Program (SHRP). New technology

developed by SHRP is currendy

being implemented by the Federal

Highway Administration (FHWA),

state transportation departments

and the private sector. AMRL has

assisted the AASHTO Subcommittee on Materials in processing over 50 standard methods for testing

materials used in highway standards. AMRL laboratory inspection

and proficiency sample programs

are being modified to include new

asphalt binder and bituminous concrete standards. These materials are used in almost 80% of the nation's

highways.

There are over 100 laboratories

using these new AMRL services

which will improve the acceptance

and precision of the new test methods.

1.11 Model for assessing

the economics of new

construction materials

BFRLs Mark Ehlen is completing an alpha version of BridgeLCC,

user-friendly sofiw^are that computes

the life-cycle costs of federal, state,

and county highway bridges. Based

on an economic method recendy

developed by Ehlen and Harold

Marshall, BridgeLCC helps state bridge engineers and project planners determine the cost effectiveness

of highway bridges made of new

construction materials that are

lighter, easier to install, more

durable, and corrode less. BridgeLCC gives state departments

of transportation an evaluation tool

to help them reduce the life-cycle

cost of maintaining the nations

highway system by building new

bridges (and repairing existing

bridges) using new technology

materials.

1.12 Fault Detection and

Diagnostics (FDD) on

Variable-Air-Volume (VAV)

Air Handling Systems

Working with the International

Energy Agency (lEA) Annex 25

committee, George Kelly and John

House made significant progress in

1995 in developing a new methodology for performing fatilt detection

and diagnostics (FDD) on VariableAir-Volume (VAV) air handling sys- tems. The method uses residuals of

system variables to quantify the

dominant symptoms of different

faults. Idealized steady-state patterns

of the residuals are then defined for

each fault mode of operation and

the relationship between the dominant symptoms and the faults is learned by an Artificial Neural

Network (ANN) using the back

propagation algorithm. The trained

neural network is then used for

FDD applications in real time.

Two papers on this research were

presented at the ASHRAE Winter

Meeting in Adanta in February

1 996 and a third paper is under

development. BFRL also led two

joint evaluation exercises among

Annex 25 members to test and

evaluate a variety of different FDD methods for

VAV systems. Johnson

Controls is now incorporating this methodology

into its standard air handling unit controller that is sold to 10,000 customers

per year.

Variable-Air-Volume (VAV) Air Handling System

10
1.13 MOIST, a personal

computer program that

provides guidelines for

controlling moisture in

building envelopes

Using BFRCs large calibrated hot

box, Douglas Burch and Robert

Zarr completed an extensive laboratory verification of MOIST, a personal computer program, developed

in BFRL, that provides buUding

practitioners with the means to

develop appropriate guidelines for

controlling moisture in building

envelopes. MOIST has been distributed to over 900 individuals and is currendy being used by manufacturers of building materials, moisture consultants, universities and

research laboratories. Prior to the

development of MOIST, moisture

control guidelines were, for the

most part, unsupported by valid

technical analysis. The agreement

between predicted values by

MOIST and the experimental

results was within one percent moisture content for most of the wall

specimens. The results of this study

were published in Building Science

Series 173 Heat andMoisture

Transfer in Wood-Based Wall Construction: Measured Verst4S Predicted.

i»1

NIST's large

calibrated hot box

MOIST was extended to include

attics (and cathedral ceilings). The

revised model performs a heat and

moisture balance on an attic space

as a function of time of year. The

revised model includes: storage of

heat and moisture within construction materials, thermal radiation

exchange among the interior surfaces, variable attic ventilation rates as a function of wind speed and

temperature difference, and variable

stack-effect air flows from the house

into the attic. The relative humidity

in the house below is permitted to

float and is calculated from a moisture balance on the whole building

with the effective leakage area and

moisture generation rate as input.

The model is currently being used

to develop guidelines to control

moisture in the attics of site-built

homes and manufactured homes for

various climatic regions.

If the use of MOIST could eliminate moisture accumulation in 20

percent of the affected roofs and

walls in the U.S., an annual savings

of $30 million per year would result.

1.14 Indoor air quality

commissioning program

Andrew Persily and Stewart Dols

have developed and implemented

an indoor air quality commissioning

program in the recently constructed

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Building in Rockville, Md. The

products of this study included a unique data set of building air quality parameters during and after construction, and increased understanding of a number of issues that

should be addressed in planning

future indoor air quality commissioning efforts. The commissioning

protocols developed in this project

will contribute to the development

of consensus standards for indoor

air quality evaluations of new and

existing buildings through ASHRAE

and ASTM. In addition, they are serving as key inputs to the U.S.

Department of Energy effort to add

an indoor air quality component to

their North American Energy

Monitoring and Verification

Protocol (NEMVP). The NEMVP

is being used to assess the impacts

of energy conservation measures in

existing buildings,

and it is currently

being expanded to

address the indoor

air quality benefits

of these measures.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission building, Rockville, Md.

11
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

1.15 Residential indoor

air quality

BFRL has conducted airflow and

indoor air quality computer simulations to assess the impact of HVAC

technology on residential indoor air

quality. Steve Enherich has examined the potential for using innovative modifications of conventional

forced-air systems to reduce indoor

poUutant levels. He found that resi- dential ventilation systems with outdoor air intake can potentially

reduce indoor concentrations of

volatile organic compounds by as much as 70% compared with conventional forced-air systems.

Similarly, these systems can reduce

carbon monoxide concentrations

due to emissions from ovens and

unvented space heaters by as much

as 40%. These results are being considered within the Consumer

Product Safety Commission

(CPSC) for potential actions on the

part of that agency, such as suggestions for building code changes. In

addition, the results of this effort

served to support some of the

changes in the revision ofASHRAE

Standard 62-1989R.

It was found that

residential ventilation

systems with outdoor

air intake can

potentially reduce

indoor concentrations

of volatile organic

compounds by as

much as 70%

compared with

conventional forcedair systems

1.16 Office buildings air

leakage and indoor air

quality

Steve Enherich has conducted a smdy in which the energy consumption due to air leakage in U.S. office

buildings was estimated. The results

of this study show that air leakage

accounts for roughly 15% of the

heating load in office buildings

nationwide, with a higher percentage in recendy constructed buildings. These results, and the methodology developed to obtain them, will

be used to study approaches to

increasing the energy efficiency of

office buildings through increasing

envelope air tightness and better

ventilation system controls. In addition, these and future results will be

used in the development of an air

tightness standard for federal buildings by the U.S. Department of

Energy. Engineers have also developed a new ASTM provisional standard on the use of indoor carbon

dioxide concentrations to assess building ventilation and indoor air

quality. Based on previous research

conducted at BFRL, this document

will increase the reliability of field

measurements and interpretations of

indoor carbon dioxide concentrations.

1.17 Smoke toxic

potency standard

Most fire victims die from smoke

inhalation rather than burns.

Recendy, ASTM and the National

Fire Protection Association have

adopted as standards the BFRLdeveloped method for measuring

the toxic potency of smoke from

burning materials (ASTM E-1678

and NFPA 269). These are the first validated and quantified methods of

this property. Ofhigh importance is the fact that the method, combined

with contextual analysis, shows there

is little distinction among most

building and fiarnishing products.

Cone

colormeter

being used

to measure

effect of fire retardants

Therefore, this test method will

relieve product manufacturers from

an unnecessary regulatory constraint, easing the use of new, high

performance materials in these

products.

12
1.18 Aircraft fire

suppressants

With the key fire suppressant for inflight aircraft fires, halon 1301, no

longer in production, both the

Department of Defense (DoD) and

the commercial aviation industry

need a replacement. Under sponsorship of the DoD and the Federal

Aviation Administration, a team of

NIST scientists have provided the

technical basis leading to selection

of the optimal currently available

chemical, HFC- 125, and generated

practical information for designing

retrofit systems that will come closest to the effectiveness of halon

1 30 1 . These findings have been

published as Fire Suppression Systems

Performance ofAlternative Agents in

Aircraft Engine and Dry Bay

Laboratory Simulations, NIST

Special Publication 890, 2 volumes,

1415 pages, November 1995,

Richard G. Gann, ed. In particular,

the results on dynamics of fire suppressant release in engine nacelles,

which provides the understanding

of the fire bottle emptying process,

the two-phase pipe flow, and the

character of the spray

necessary to select an

alternative to halon

1301 and design a meaningfiil certification process for

engine nacelle fire protection applications, have already

been adapted by the

Boeing Commercial

Airplane Company

for the 777 and by

the US Navy.

1.19 Fire detection

systems for high spaces

(aircraft hangars)

Current fire protection for aircraft

hangars is designed to save the

building. However, the high cost of

modern aircraft makes it highly

desirable to protect the contents as well. Under the sponsorship of the

Naval Facilities Engineering

Command (NAVFAC), Kathy

Notarianni of BFRL and Joseph

Gott of NAVFAC led a government/industry team that determined how new approaches could

lead to quicker response to a smaller

fire, thus reducing damage to adjacent planes. The fiall-scale and laboratory-scale data sets are the most

comprehensive and precise ever generated for high-ceiling enclosures

and is already providing the commercial fire protection community

and the government with the

knowledge needed to upgrade fire detection and suppression systems

for these large buildings.

iiik

1 .20 Effective fire

retardant for many

polymers

Nearly all polymer products must

meet flammability requirements in

addition to satisfying the performance desires of consumers. For

most polymers, fire performance is met with fire retardant additives,

many of which are based on

bromine and chlorine. Because of

possible environmental and re- cycling requirements, the search

for alternatives to halogenated fire

retardants is a subject of high concern to the plastics industry.

Takashi Kashiwagi and Jeffirey

Gilman of the BFRL Fire Science

Division and Sergei Lomakin of the

Russian Academy of Sciences have

been studying mechanisms for

reducing the burning rate of poly- mers. They have now found that

the combination of silica gel and

potassium carbonate, two common chemicals, is an effective fire

retardant for a wide range of highuse polymers, including nylon,

polypropylene and cellulose.

The rate of heat release, the most

important property in determining

fire hazard, is reduced by up to a

factor of three, with no significant

increase in smoke or carbon

monoxide production. Further

research is under way to understand

better how this formulation affects

such a wide range of materials. The

results have been presented to the

Society for the Advancement of

Material and Process Engineering.

Left: Fire tests in aircraft hanger
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

1.21 Simulation of

polymer behavior during

fire exposures

Much industrial design of new

materials is now accomplished using

molecular modeling of the chemicals. Over the past few years, BFRL

chemist Marc Nyden and co-workers have developed such a capability

for the response of simple polymeric

materials to fires. Now, under a

cooperative agreement with Biosym

Technologies, the leading commercial firm in molecular modeling,

Nyden has unified the BFRL model

with Biosym's capability to encompass most commodity plastics. This

new capability enables the polymer

industry to develop novel, less flammable materials while preserving

their principal market and processing properties.

1 .22 Refrigerant

flammabiiity

In order to minimize the environmental impact of refrigerants, alter- native chemicals are required that

do not deplete the earths stratos- pheric ozone. Many efficient new

alterative refrigerants are combinations of flammable and nonflammable components. To optimize the

performance of these mixtures while

maintaining a fire-safe final product,

precise and accurate measurements

of flammabiiity are needed. Carole

Wbmeldorf and William

Grosshandler of the BFRL Fire

Science Division, under sponsorship

of the Air Conditioning and

Refrigeration Institute, have developed a new test method for obtaining quality fire performance data for

these weakly flammable refrigerants.

An opposed flow btirner produces

an explicit value of the lean flammabiiity limit for a refrigerant/air mixture as a fiinction of the initial gas

temperamre and pressure. It thus

eliminates the need to distinguish

between a non-propagating flicker

and a weak, but self-sustaining

flame, as is required in the conventional method. Initial results indicate that the precision of this

method may be an order of magnitude improvement over previous

methods.

1 .23 Standards for testing

high-strength concrete

Problems have arisen in testing

high-strength concrete using current

ASTM standards. In cooperation

with the National Ready-Mixed

Concrete Association, BFRL has

carried out research to isolate those

testirig:£onditions that have statisti- cally significant effects on the measured compressive strength of highstrength concrete test specimens.

One of the significant factors is the

end preparation. It has generally

been thought that the capping compotmds used to produce flat ends

must be at least as strong as the

concrete being tested. However,

research results have shown that this

is not necessary provided the caps

are thin. Another area of dispute

that has been addressed in the

research deals with the use of

100 mm diameter cylinders instead

of the traditional 1 50 mm diameter

specimens. The smaller specimens

will allow the use of existing testing

machines to test high-strength concrete. The research has demonstrated that the two specimen sizes yield

comparable strength values provided

a new procedure is used to prepare

the smaller specimens. The results

of this cooperative work provide the

basis for proposed changes to the

ASTM standards.

The research has

demonstrated that

the two specimen

sizes yield

comparable strength

values provided a

new procedure is

used to prepare the

smaller specimens.

stabilized flame for measuring refrigerant

flammabiiity
1 .24 Test methods for

FRP reinforcement

A major obstacle to the use of fiberreinforced plastic (FRP) bars for

concrete reinforcement is the lack of

standard specifications and test methods. Research at BFRL is supporting the development of these

vital standards. The two important

mechanical properties of FRP bars

needed by a designer are tensile

strength and modulus of elasticity.

Unfortunately, standard test methods developed for testing steel bars

are not applicable. Traditional fric- tion gripping devices damage the

ends of the bars and result in premature failures. BFRL researchers,

in cooperation with a guest worker

from Brazil, have developed a simple method for performing tensile

tests. The novel system uses an inexpensive metal tube and a fast- setting, high-strength

gypsum-based mortar to

encapsLilate the ends of the

bars so that they can be

gripped by ordinary friction

grips. The traditional

method for measuring the

elastic modulus is by instrumenting a tensile test specimen so that its elongation is measured as it is being

loaded. This approach is time consuming and prone

to experimental errors. BFRL researchers have

demonstrated that the elastic modtUus can be determined more reliably by

using a nondestructive test method based upon measuring the resonant frequency of a specimen after it has

been impacted with a small

hammer. Results have

shown that the measured

values from the nondestructive test method have less dispersion than the traditional method and the

results are obtained in a

fraction of the time.

NIST researchers

have demonstrated

that the elastic

modulus can be

determined more

reliably by using a

nondestructive test

method based upon

measuring the

resonant frequency

of a specimen after it

has been impacted

with a small hammer.

1 .25 Fire fighter

protective clothing

BFRL began a study of the performance of fire fighter protective

clothing. Based on historical information and new laboratory measurements, a greater understanding

of fire fighter burn injuries was

developed. A report, NISTIR 5804,

Fire Fighter's Protective Clothing and

Thermal Environments ofStructural

Fire Fighting, by Randall Lawson,

was issued detailing the findings of

this research. Working with protective clothing manufacturers, the

Federal Emergency Man^ement

Agency (FEMA), State Fire

Marshals, and arson investigators,

BFRL developed a new guide for

the selection of personal protective

clothing and equipment for emer- gency managers, investigators and

inspectors.

Fire test technicians in protective clotliing prepare to extinguisli a test burn

15
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

Automation in Construction and

Video and workbooks in the series Least-Cost

Energy Decisions for Buildings

iiiti

2.1 Videos for making least-cost energy decisions for

buildings

A set of three training videos, developed under the direction of BFRL economist Harold Marshall, helps energy managers make least-cost energy decisions

for buildings. The first video in the series tided Least-Cost Energy Decisionsfor

Buildings is Life-Cycle Costing, a 60-minute program that helps users learn how

to compute, apply, and interpret life-cycle cost measures for decisions affecting

energy consumption in buildings. The second. Uncertainty and Risk, is a 36-

minute video that provides the fundamentals for measuring, describing and

interpreting uncertainty and risk in economic evaluations of energy conservation projects. Choosing Economic Evaluation Methods completes the series. It provides 35 minutes of instruction on how to select among economic methods

such as life-cycle costing and the savings-to-investment ratio when evaluating

energy conservation projects. Supporting workbooks provide expanded

descriptions of the technical material, a glossary of technical terms used in the

videos and exercises in applying economic methods. Over 2,000 copies of the

videos and workbooks are in circulation.

2.2 Historic importance of buildings rating system

A rating system for evaluating the relative historic importance of buildings in

the GSA Public Buildings Service (PBS) portfolio (nearly 1 ,000 buildings) was

developed and implemented in the software HIST (Historic Importance

Software Tool). HIST is compatible with software currendy used by PBS managers to collect detailed data on the historic characteristics of the PBS buildings. According to developers Barbara C. Lippiatt and Stephen F. Weber,

HIST integrates these data into a comprehensive, consistent and reliable rating

system to measure the combined historic significance at several levels of building detail. HIST is used by GSA headquarters and regions for ranking and

analyzing the PBS building inventory, and as the basis for budget planning

and allocation.

Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York, NY

16
2.3 BACnet

BACnet booth at the ASHRAE Show

In June 1995, ASHRAE Standard

135-1995, BACnet - A Data

Communication Protocol for

Building Automation and Control

Network, was approved by

ASHRAE. Since the beginning of

the development of ASHRAE SPC

1 35 in January 1 987, Steve Bushby

has been a major contributor

to the development of this

protocol, which will enable

products of different manufacturers of energy management

and control systems (EMCS)

to "interoperate" together.

This standard should significandy reduce the cost of interconnecting control systems

from different manufacturers,

and will provide the basis for

the future integration of different building services, such

as energy management, fire detection, security and building transportation. BACnet is now being demonstrated in

the Philip Burton Federal

Office Building in San

Francisco, the largest federal

office building west of the Mississippi River. If this demonstration is successftd, fiiture plans include

adding BACnet control systems to

48 other federal buildings in

California. By linking these buildings using BACnet, the federal government will be able to purchase

electricity for all of these buildings

in one block, qualifying for industrial rates. This will reduce electric

utility costs for GSA in California

by 47%. This project is intended to

be a model for GSA-owned and

GSA-operated buildings nationwide.

2.4 Non-Line-of-Sight

(NLS) surveying system

The first-ever tests of a prototype

Non-Line-of-Sight (NLS) surveying

system were recendy conducted at NIST by BFRL in a collaborative

effort with MIT Lincoln

Laboratories. The objective of the

research, which is part of the NIST

Initiative in Construction Automation, is to develop a standardized

system by which the real time position and orientation of any object

on a construction job site may be

determined, irrespective of the pres- ence of intervening obstacles,

including building walls and roofs.

Preliminary results show that it is possible to locate, via time-of-flight

measurements, the position of a

"roving" receiver beyond a onemeter-thick reinforced concrete

wall, or beyond several brick and

masonry block walls to within an

accuracy of 1 m over a 1 00 m transmission path with a repeatable reso- lution of 200 mm. Significant

improvements in accuracy are expected to be realized in FY97.

Prototype Non-Line-of-Sight surveying system

17
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

Loss Reduction

3.1 Fire on the Web

"Fire on the Web" is a new web site developed by Glen Forney in 1996 to

complement the FASTLite fire modeling software. This web site, available at http://www.bfi:l.nist.gov/fire.html, provides information for various fire tests that can be used with FASTLite to assist in model runs. Some of this information includes: still pictures of fires with the associated heat release rate, computer movies of fires and data sets that can be downloaded and run with the

FASTLite software. This site is accessed over 6,000 times a month by people

from over 40 countries.

Fire on the Web

To/;; Aerial photograph

of experimental crude

oil burner, North Slope,

Alaska

Bottom: View of simulated plume of the

crude oil burn, as seen

from upwind

3.2 FastLite

The BFRL Fire Modeling and

Applications Group developed a new a user friendly software package, FASTLite, which builds on the

core routines of previous computer

fire models FPEtool and CFAST. In

the first three months since its introduction in May 1996, 2,260

copies of the software package have

been distributed free of charge

either on CD-ROM or as downloads from the BFRL web site. This

fire model calculates fire phenomena for use by building designers,

code officials, fire protection engi- neers and fire-safety related practitioners. FASTLite includes a number of tools of lose to the fire safety

practitioner including models for

heat and smoke detector activation,

sprinkler suppression and atriimi

temperatures.

3.3 Prediction of smoice

spread from large fires in

Aiasica

Working with EMCON Alsaka Inc. and the State of Alaska, Kevin

McGrattan has completed a second

generation model for predicting

downwind smoke concentrations

produced from a large oU fire in a region of complex terrain. The

model has been used in conjunction

with spUl response drills conducted

to plan for intentional burns in Port

Valdez, Prince WiUiam Sound and

the North Slope. The previous flat terrain version of the model has

been compared with data from

three large-scale experiments and

found to be good enough to be useftal for making decisions on whether

intentional burning is a viable

method for cleaning up a spill.

3.4 Predicting tiie

performance of industrial

fire protection systems

Working with the three major U.S.

automobile manufacturers and the

National Fire Protection Research

Foundation, BFRL has completed a

first-generation computer model

based on large eddy simulation

technology to predict the interaction of sprinklers, draft curtains and

vents in industrial warehouse and
manufacturing facilities. The model

wiU be subjected to verification test- ing in FY 97 when a series of largescale tests funded by industry will

be conducted to collect performance data. Using the results of

these tests a second-generation

model is planned.

3.5 Software for costeffective compliance with

the Life Safety Code

BFRL economists Stephen Weber

and Barbara Lippiatt have developed software, called ALARM

(Alternative Life Safety Analysis for

Retrofit Cost Minimization), that

helps building managers and fire safety engineers achieve costeffective compliance with the

widely used Life Safety Code of the

National Fire Protection Association

(NFPA). The software currendy

supports analysis of health care occupancies and future versions are planned for other building occupancies. Through the equivalency

provision of the code, ALARM

implements a goal-oriented

approach to compliance. The software generates a set of alternative

code compliance strategies and their

estimated construction costs. Engineering judgment is then applied to

select the most appropriate strategy

based on both cost and design considerations. The optimization

method used in ALARM has been

field tested in 89 hospitals (17,898

beds) since 1981. The least-cost

solution identified by the software

was on average 41 percent less expensive than the prescriptive solution. This represents a potential cost

savings of $2, 116 per bed or over $37 million. More than 300 copies

ofALARM have been sold by the

NFPA.

3.6 Fire spread through

windows

As a result of on scene investigations

of the post-earthquake fires in housing developments in the Northridge

California area, by William Walton,

fire spread through windows was

identified as a primary cause of loss. Suggested mitigation strategies that

could be implemented by residents

under emergency conditions to substantially increase the resistance to

fire spread from structure to structure have been evaluated. Strategies

as simple as placing aluminum foil over window panes can substantially

increase the resistance to fire spread.

The findings of this study will be

made suitable for public information bulletins.

3.7 Fire Data

ly/ianagement System

(FDMS) data base

available on Internet

The first generation of a fire database including data from the Cone

Calorimeter test (ASTM 1354/ISO

5660) and Eurefic Corner tests (NT

025/ISO 9705) along with several

full-scale tests including 3 room, 4

room, and multi-story structures has

been made available over the

Internet using the Fire Data

Management System (FDMS) data

base format developed by BFRLs

Fire Modeling Applications Group.

This growing central data base of

fire related data, made up of contributions from NIST and other fire laboratories, has been established to

facilitate the use of models and verification of test results from standard

measurement apparatus.

3.8 Building evacuation

manual for disabled

Emergency Proceduresfor Employees

with n>isabilities in Office Occupancies was produced in English,

Spanish and Braille. The booklet

developed by Richard Bukowski is being distributed by the U.S. Fire

Administration. This booklet helps

building owners and managers to

develop cost effective plans that

comply with the requirements of the

Americans with Disabilities Act.

Building evacuation planning

19
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

Scale model experiments

to measure generation of carbon monoxide

3.9 New mechanisms of

carbon monoxide

formation in fires

Most fatalities from building fires result fi-om the breathing of toxic

combustion products and not

burns, and the principle chemical

species responsible for fire deaths

is carbon monoxide (CO).

William Pitts has led a team in

developing the first predictive capability for the amount of CO

formed. Fatal levels of CO are mosdy formed during intense,

flashed-over enclosure fires, where

insufficient air enters the enclosure

to ensure complete combustion.

Pius combined the results of inhouse experiments and modeling

with findings from BFRL-sponsored research at Harvard University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute

and State University and the California Institute ofTechnology to

identify four distinct mechanisms

for the formation of CO in these

enclosure fires. They are

( 1 ) quenching of a turbulent fire plume upon entering a rich upper

layer; (2) mixing of oxygen directly

into a rich, high-temperature upper

layer with subsequent reaction; (3)

pyrolysis of wood in a high-temperature, vitiated environment; and

(4) approach to fiiU thermodynamic

equilibrium combustion product

distributions in rich, high-temperature upper layers. These results have

been incorporated into an

algorithm which allows fire researchers to determine

which mechanisms are responsible for the generation of CO for a given fire scenario and to develop

estimates for the amounts

of CO which will be generated. It is now clear that

small-scale toxicity tests on

samples of ftrrnishings and

wall coverings alone are not

sufficient for characterizing

the toxicity of smoke from

Diffusion

real fires, and regulation of products

based on such tests is unlikely to improve fire safety. On-going efforts are aimed at characterizing the fate

of combustion gases once they exit

the room of fire origin.

3.10 Quantitative soot

data in time-varying

flames

The first quantitative soot data in

time-varying flames for different

fuels have been obtained. These data

may represent the most important

advance in soot measurements in the

last 20 years. The results become the

benchmark for testing for soot production models. The paper LaserInduced Incandescence Measurements

ofSoot Production in Steady and

Flickering Methane, Propane, and

Ethylene Diffusion Flames by C.R.

Shaddix and K.C. Smyth, has been

submitted to Combustion and Flame.

These data may

represent the most

important advance in

soot measurements

in the last 20 years

flame

20 I
3.11 Kobe earthquake

studied

The January 17,1 996, HyogokenNanbu earthquake of magnitude

7.2 in JMA scale (Mw = 6.9),

which struck Kobe, Japan, and its surrounding area, was the most

severe earthquake to affect that

region in this century. The earthquake resulted in more than 6,000

deaths and over 30,000 injuries.

Fires following the earthquake

incinerated the equivalent of 70

U.S. city blocks. They together

destroyed over 1 50,000 buildings

and left about 300,000 people

homeless. The economic loss as a

result of this earthquake is estimated

to reach $200 billion.

The postearthquake investigation

was conducted under the auspices

of the Panel on W^ind and Seismic

Effects of the U.S.-Japan Program

in Natural Resources to observe,

document and compile important

lessons from this

earthquake that can be used to mitigate the potentially tr^ic impact of

fiiture earthquakes

on modern urbanized communities.

The study team's

report summarizes

the information

collected during

the investigation

and recommends

research and

improved practices

to reduce earthquake loss in the

United States.

Kobe earthquake

3.12 High-rise building

fire safety problems

solved

The results of BFRL studies of elevator evacuation of office buildings

and air traffic control towers during

fires have been utilized by industry

to deal with the unique challenge of

high-rise building fire safety in the

design of the Las Vegas Stratosphere

Hotel and Casino. This facility,

which includes a 350-meter tall tower with hotel and amusement

rides, does not fit into any of the

existing occupancy classes in the

building codes used in the United

States. In order to show the building had adequate fire safety provisions, RolfJensen and Associates

Inc., a leading U.S. fire protection

consulting firm, used the results of

the BFRL studies on evacuation by

elevators during fires as part of an

overall safety performance analysis

for the tower. This analysis was sufficient to show local authorities that

the building had adequate fire safety

provisions. The hotel and casino

opened for business on AprU 30,

1996.

Kobe earthquake

21
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

3.13 Welded steel

moment frame (WSMF)

buildings studied

Many welded steel moment buildings have been built in recent years

to take advantage of the ductility of

steel when subject to earthquake

ground shaking. However, one of

the major findings from reconnais- sance efforts following the 1 994

Northridge earthquake was the discovery of the failure of over 100

welded steel moment frame

(W^SMF) buildings at welded joints.

Similar damage was also observed in

the 1995 Kobe earthquake. BFRL is an active participant in the SAC

(SEAOC, ATC, and CUREe) effort

established after the Northridge

earthquake to address critical issues

in repair, retrofit and new design of

steel frame buildings.

BFRL-sponsored efforts in the past

two years were part of a comprehensive national program to address

those critical issues. They included

the publication of the proceedings

of a Workshop on the Seismic

Performance of Steel Frame

Buildings during the Northridge

earthquake; the publication of the

results of a detailed survey of those

WSMF buildings damaged in the

Investigation of beam column connections

Northridge earthquake; the analysis

and characterization of actual failed

sections of beam-column connections from buildings damaged in

the same earthquake; the detailed

investigation and analysis of two

steel frame buildings which suffered

extensive damage in the same earthquake; the development of computer models for analyzing three

WSMF buildings damaged in the

same earthquake; and the large-scale

testing of retrofitted steel moment

connections.

Findings from these studies, as well

as those from the completion of the

SAC program, will provide the

needed solutions to those critical

issues listed above

3.14 Wind-loading

measurement and

estimation procedures

Advances in wind loading measure- ment and estimation procedures

have led to the creation of a vast

body of differentiated design technologies that result in safer and

more economical designs. The

widespread application of those

technologies requires the development of complex standard provisions that can be too difficult to use — and may not gain acceptance —

for routine design. To overcome

such barriers BFRL proposed and

completed, with partial support from the American

Society of Civil Engineers,

the development of an interactive computer version of

the ASCE 7-95 provisions

for wind loads. The BFRL

product led to key improvements of the ASCE Standard

provisions through checking

for consistency inherent in

the programming effort; helped ASCE to establish

unequivocally the need for

computer-based provisions

and to take the first institutional steps toward managing this novel approach to standards

development; and following the

testing of the software, helped to

obtain information on users' practical needs. The BFRL effort is the

preliminary stage of a research program into the development of a new generation of computer-based

standards that use aerodynamic and

climatological data bases to allow

the calculation of wind loads targeted for specific cases, rather than for

broad ranges of situations covered

in current standards by generally

uneconomical envelope curves.

3.15 Methods for

estimating extreme wind

speeds

New methods for estimating

extreme wind speeds, known as peaks over threshold methods, have

been applied to hurricane wind

speed data used for the development of the ASCE 7-93 Standard

wind speed map. The results of the

estimates support the hypothesis

that the wind extremes are modeled

by a distribution with limited upper

tail. According to those results the

method used in the ASCE 7-93

and 7-95 Standards for obtaining

ultimate wind loads from specified basic wind loads is not riskconsistent, that is, it entails structural failure risks estimated to be

about one order of magnitude

higher in hurricane-prone regions

than in regions not exposed to

hurricanes.

22
3.16 Structural control

Seismic isolation has been demonstrated in recent earthquakes as an

effective means for reducing the

level of response in structures during strong earthquake ground shaking. Testing of the isolation system

prior to installation is required by

each of the existing building codes

that deals with the design of isolated

structures. However, standards do

not yet exist for conducting these

much needed tests, and, therefore,

procedures and results are subject to

considerable variability. In January

1996, BFRL published guidelines

for testing isolation systems. The

guidelines address pre-qualification,

prototype and quality control test- ing. The American Society of Civil

Engineers (ASCE) is working with

BFRL to adopt the proposed guidelines as the basis for developing an American National Standard

Institute (ANSI) national consensus

standard for testing base isolation

systems. ASCE has formed a standard committee and BFRL serves as

its technical secretariat.

BFRL has undertaken a series of

laboratory tests on seismic base isolation devices using its large-scale

testing facility. The purpose of these

experiments is to verify the test procedures described in the BFRL test guidelines.

3.17 Seismic

performance of precast

concrete beam-column

connections

The objective of this study is to

develop building code provisions for

moment-resistant precast concrete

beam-column connections based on

experimental and analytical work

jointly sponsored by BFRL and the

private sector and completed at BFRL. Precast concrete beamcolumn connections offer a good

construction practice since precast

offers better quality control of its products when manufactured in a

controlled environment such as factory. However, precast has not been

popularly used by the profession

because current practices in precast

concrete beam-column connections

tend to produce less energy dissipation capability. The work done at BFRL in the past few years focused

on the development of better connections technologies that would

improve such capability and result

in broader use of precast concrete

construction. Design guidelines

have been developed through the

BFRL research. Based on the guidelines, two buildings have been

designed and constructed, and

three high-rise buildings in seismic

regions, ranging from 1 8 to 45 stories, are currendy being designed.

The development of such building

code provisions is an important step

in the implementation of research

results. As of 1 996, BFRL-developed

design guidelines have been presented to the International Council of

Building Officials (ICBO) and die

American Concrete Institute (ACI)

committees for their consideration

for adoption into building codes

and standards. Such adoption

would allow the use of these connections in the new construction of

precast structures in high seismic

regions of the country.

Testing seismic performance of concrete beam-column connections

3.18 Design and

construction standards

for lifeline structures

In response to Public Law 101-614,

BFRL, working with the Federal

Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA), prepared and submitted

to Congress Plan for Developing and

Adopting Seismic Design Guidelines

and Standardsfor Lifelines. The life- lines included in the plan are electric power, gas and liquid fuels,

telecommunication/information,

transportation, and water and sewer

systems. The plan is based on the

technical input of experts from the

private and public sectors who participated in a workshop held in

September 1991 in Denver, Colo.

The workshop concluded that

design guidelines and standards are needed to reduce the vulnerability

of lifelines to earthquakes.

Testing base isolation system

23
Awards

1995 ASTM William T.

Cavanaugh Memorial Award

Dr. Geoffrey Frohnsdorff received

die 1995 ASTM WiUiam T. Cavanaugh Memorial Award for

technical leadership in die initiation

and development of national and

international standards for construction materials and systems.

1995 ACI

The National Capital Chapter of

the American Concrete Institute

International (ACI) awarded its Outstanding Accomplishment

Award to Dr. James Clifton, Mr.

Lawrence Kaetzel and Mr. Kenneth

Synder for their efforts to further

the use of expert system technology

in materials selection and analysis of

concrete civil strucmres.

1996 ASTM Robert J. Painter

Award

Dr. Mary McKnight received the

ASTM Robert J. Painter Award in

recognition of distinguished service,

exceptional contributions and

achievement and prominent leadership toward advancing the standardization of coatings and lead paint

abatement technologies.

1995 ASTM Award of Merit

Dr. Mary McKnight was awarded

the 1995 ASTM Award of Merit

and honorary tide of Fellow for

administrative and technical leadership of Committee E06 in the

development of standards for the

abatement of hazards from leaded

paint in buildings.

1 996 Catholic University of

America Alumni Achievement

Award

Dr. David Didion received the

Catholic University ofAmerica

Alumni Achievement Award in

Engineering for his research achievements in the field of air conditioning and refrigeration. He pioneered

the research of zeotropic refrigerant

mixtures and made significant contribution in characterizing alternative, atmospheric-safe refrigerants,

He also developed laboratory test methodologies for seasonal efficiency ratings of heating and refrigeration machinery.

1996 DOC Silver Medal

Dr. William Grosshandler was

awarded the DOC silver medal for

his leadership in research in evaluating alternative fire suppressants for

aircraft, providing manufacturers

and users of aircraft with the current

optimal choice.

1995 NIST Bronze Medal

Dr. Mark A. Kedzierski was awarded the NIST bronze medal for

developing an advanced laboratory

for measuring the heat transfer coefficient of referigerants.

1996 NIST Bronze Medal

Dr. Jonathan Martin was awarded

the NIST bronze medal for the

development of methodologies

for predicting the service lives of

organic coatings and transferring

these concepts to the building

community.

1996 NIST Bronze Medal

Dr. Andrew Taylor was awarded

the NIST bronze medal for the

development of standard test procedures for seismic base isolation

which will ultimately lead to an ASCE standard.

1995 William P. Slichter

Award

The 1995 William P. Slichter Award

was awarded to Dr. David A.

Didion, Dr. Piotr Domanski and

Dr. Mark Kedzierski, for their work

in finding alternative refrigerants to the CFCs that have now been

banned from production by an

international treaty.

24
1996 William P. Slichter Award 1 996 SRM Service Award

The 1996 William R Slichter Award

was awarded to Mr. Steven Bushby

for his work on BACnet, a standard

communication protocol for computerized energy management and

control systems.

1996 White House "Hammei^'

Award

The White House presented the

Hammer award to Mr. Steven T.

Bushby and other participants for a BACnet demonstration project at the Phillip Burton Federal Office

Building in San Francisco. The

Hammer Award is part of the

Clinton Administration's National

Performance Review and is given to

federal government employees whose

work increases the efficiency and

effectiveness of government. It is estimated that the BACnet building

automation and control system will save the government an estimated

$450,000 each year in utility bills.

1996 E.K. Campbell Award

Dr. David Didion was presented

with the 1996 E.K. Campbell

Award for his pioneering effort in

the teaching of current and future

technologies to graduate and undergraduate studies.

The Telly Award

The Building and Fire Research

Laboratory videotape BFRL — Your

Partner in Building received a second place Telly Award for production excellence. The video,

which was also awarded a Crystal

Award, describes BFRTs research

programs and facilities and highlights its thrusts in high-performance

materials and systems, automation

of procedures and facilities and loss

reduction.

Mr. Robert Zarr recieved the 1996

Standard Reference Material

Measurement Services Award for

exemplary work in developing and

procuring SRM 1453, expanded

polyurethane, used in three ASTM

standard thermal resistance meas- urements for fenestration and

insulation materials.

1996 BRI Research Award for

Foreign Specialist

Dr. William Pitts was the recipient

of a 1 996 Research Award for

Foreign Specialist from the Building

Research Institute, Ministry of

Construction, Japan. Dr. Pius spent

a month in Japan working with colleagues there and presenting lectures

on carbon monoxide formation in

enclosure fires.

1995 ARI Meritorious Service

Award

This award was presented to Dr.

David Didion and Dr. James Hill,

for leadership within the federal

government on applied research in

refrigeration and air conditioning.

1996 LeadTech

Government/Industry Person

of the Year Award

Dr. Mary McKnight was presented

the 1 996 Lead Technology

Government/Industry Person of the

Year Award for outstanding service

to the lead industry.

25
staff Recognition

NASA payload mission

specialist (astronaut)

Dr. Greg Linteris was selected to be

a payload mission specialist (astronaut) for NASA to conduct experiments on combustion and material

behavior under the microgravity

condition of the space shuttle. His

mission is scheduled to fly in Spring

1997.

President ASHRAE

On July 1, 1996 Dr. James E. Hill,

Chief of the Building Environment

Division, became President of the

American Society of Heating,

Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning

Engineers, Inc. ASHRAE is a technical society with 50,000 members

in 120 countries around the world.

Founded 100 years ago its objective

is to advance through research, standards writing, and continuing education the arts and sciences of heating, ventilating, air-conditioning,

and refrigeration for the public benefit. Dr. Hill joined ASHRAE in

1 972 and was elevated to the grade

of Fellow in 1990.

Fellow of the American

Concrete institute

Mr. James Pielert has been elevated

to the grade of Fellow of the

American Concrete Institute for his

work in support of the industry as Manager of the Cement and

Concrete Reference Laboratory.

Mr. Pielert joined NIST in 1971.

NIST Competence Project

As a result of BFREs initiative,

BFRL and three other NIST laboratories (Physics Laboratory, Mechanical Engineering Laboratory and

Information Technology Laboratory) were awarded a competence

project on appearance. (A competence project is awarded by the

Director of NIST to develop expertise in a broad technical area of

future need.) The five-year objective

of the project is to develop

improved measurement methods

and models for predicting the

appearance of coated objects. The

project is important because the

appearance (color, gloss, texture) of

an object often influences a cus- tomer's judgment of its quality.

Moreover, customer expectations for

appearance attributes of coatings are continually increasing, as manufacturers demonstrate their ability to

provide coatings having new and

exciting appearance attributes. To

enhance the development and

implementation of new coating

products, it is essential that the

industry have the physical tools necessary to quantify accurately the

appearance of a product, and the

modeling capability to predict the

appearance of a coated object based

on the microstructure of the coating. This will be accomplished by

taking advantage of recent advances

in optical metrology, mathematical

modeling and computer rendering

to advance significandy measure- ments and models for appearance of

coated objects.

PE licenses (Virginia)

Mr. Ronald Holsinger and Dr.

Andrew Taylor have each earned

their professional engineering

license in civU engineering from the

State ofVirginia and the State of

^X^ashington, respectively.

1995 Technical Focus

Speaker for the Federation of

Coating Societies for

Coatings Technology

Dr. Jonathan Martin received the

prestigious Technical Focus Speaker

Award at the annual meeting of the

Federation of Societies for Coating

Technology, a meeting that attracts more than 3,000 international

experts in all forms of organic coatings. The subject of his presentation

was "Service Life Prediction".

Membership on the

Bureau of RILEM

Mr. James Pielert was elected to the

Bureau of RILEM at its October

1995 meeting. RILEM, the

International Union ofTesting and

Research Laboratories for Materials

and Structures, has over 700 members in some 70 countries. The purpose of RILEM is to collect, analyze

and disseminate knowledge on the

properties and performance of

materials and structures, development of test methods, and application of results in buildings and civil engineering. The Bureau is the

management arm of RILEM,

responsible for its overall operation.

Gordon Conferences

Dr. Kermit Smyth was invited to

present a paper at the 1995 Gordon

Conference on Lasers in Combustion, and Dr. JeflBrey Gilman was

invited to present a paper at the

1996 Gordon Conference on

Thermosetting Resins.

26
NSTC Subcommittee on

Construction and Building

This 1995 publication describes the mission and goals of the subcommittee and

activities of the member agencies

CTI's Subcommittee

on Construction and

Building (C&B)

defines priorities for

Federal research,

development, and

deployment related

to the industries that

produce, operate,

and maintain

constructed

facilities, including

buildings and infrastructure

Theactivities of the National

Science and Technology

Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Construction and

Building (C&B) have profound

effects on the BFRL program.

BFRL co-chairs and maintains the

secretariat of C&B. NSTC, a

cabinet-level group charged with

setting federal technology policy,

coordinates R&D strategies across a broad cross-section of public and

private interests. NSTC has established nine research and development committees, including the

Committee on Technological

Innovation (CTI), to collaborate

with the private sector in developing

a comprehensive national technology policy. The purpose of CTI is to

enhance the international competitiveness of U.S. industry through

federal technology policies and programs. CTI's Subcommittee on

Construction and Building defines

priorities for federal research, development and deployment related to

the industries that produce, operate,

and maintain constructed facilities,

including buildings and infrastructure. These priorities and related

collaborations with industry and

government guide the focus of the

Laboratory's programs.

Agencies (listed below) participating

in C&B include agencies with

responsibilities as owners and operators, regulators and researchers.

Department of Agriculture

(Forest Products Laboratory)

Department of Commerce,

Co-chair (NIST)

Department of Defense

Department of Energy,

Co-chair

Department of Health and

Human Services (National

Institute of Occupational Safety

and Health)

Department of Housing and

Urban Development

Department of Interior

(United States Geological

Survey)

Department of Labor

(Occupational Safety and

Health Administration)

Department of Transportation

(Federal Highway

Administration)

Department of Veterans

Affairs

Environmental Protection

Agency

Federal Emergency

Management Administration

General Services

Administration

National Science Foundation

The mission of C&B is to enhance

the competitiveness of U.S. industry, public and worker safety and

environmental quality through

research and development, in cooperation with U.S. industry, labor

and academia improve the life-cycle

performance and economy of constructed facilities. C&B addresses

Administration goals to:

• forge partnerships with industry

to strengthen America's industrial

competitiveness and create jobs;

and

• make environmental protection,

safety and energy efficiency fully

consistent with other business

objectives.

During FY 95 C&B studied

research priorities expressed by the

construction industry in industry

forums and in proposals for the

Advanced Technology Program of

the Department of Commerce. Two

priority thrusts, better constructed

facilities and health and safety of the

construction workforce, were

defined for focus of research, development and deployment (RD&D)

in the construction and building

area. The C&B program plans to

cooperate with industry to make

technologies and practices capable

of achieving the following seven

goals available for use in the construction industry by 2003.

27
Oonstructed

Facilities

50% reduction in delivery time

50% reduction in operation,

maintenance and energy costs

30% increase in productivity

and comfort

50% fewer occupant -related

illnesses and injuries

50% less waste and pollution

50% more durability and

flexibility

lith and

Safety of

Construction

Woricforce

50% reduction in construction

work illnesses and injuries Excavation for NIST's new Advanced Chemical Sciences Laboratory

Thebaseline for measuring

progress against the goals

will be today's business

practices. Long delivery time, waste

and pollution, and construction

work illness and injury contribute

substantially to unnecessary in- creases in the cost of construction.

Therefore, achievement of these

goals will reduce construction cost

and make housing more affordable

through reduction in first cost and

life-cycle cost. The C&B program

and goals were reviewed with a focus group of industry leaders con- vened by the CivU Engineering

Research Foundation. These leaders

strongly endorsed the goals, which

became known as the National

Construction Goals.

During FY 96, C&B worked with

industry groups convened by the

National Association of Homebuilders (residential sector), the

Construction Industry Institute

(industrial sector), the National

Institute of Building Sciences (commercial/institutional sector) and the

American Public Works Association

(public works sector) to stimulate

the development of industry plans.

The development of these plans

revealed major differences among

the sectors' priorities and needs.

Therefore, industry will focus on

sector goals, and work with appropriate federal agencies on collaborative efforts to address sector goals.

C&B also held a workshop to

strengthen mechanisms for collaborating with the private sector. The

report of that workshop notes successful collaborative efforts in recent

years, describes federal laboratory

capabilities and facilities, and identifies current areas of research suitable

for collaboration. C&B supported a study to develop baseline measures of current practice and measures of

progress with respect to each of the

national construction goals, and

completed a survey of Federal R&D

for construction. C&B has two of

its recent reports on the world wide

web, and plans to make all future

reports similarly available.

Four agencies of C&B, (NIST,

HUD, Corps of Engineers, and

DOE) supported the Partnership

for Building Innovation which organized a workshop in June, 1 996, in

Washington D.C. to plan the strate- gy for stimulating the acceptance of

innovations in building practice. An

agreement was reached between the

CivU Engineering Research Fotmdation (CERF) and the National

Evaluation Service to develop an enhanced evaluation process that

uses experts to identify performance

criteria, and expert evaluations to

evaluate products and processes

against those criteria.

28
NSTC Subcommittee on

Construction and Bulicling

In August 1995 the CONMAT

Council was formally established to

implement the high-performance

CONstruction MATerials and sys- tems program designed to create a new generation of constructed facilities. The Council consists of 1 2 different material groups (aluminum,

coatings, concrete, fiber-reinforced

composites, geo-synthetics, masonry, plastics, roofing materials, smart

materials, stainless materials, steel

and wood) as well as liaison members from public and private agencies, with CERF acting as Secretariat.

These groups have joined forces in a $2 billion effort to plan and implement a national program of research,

development and deployment. The

CONMAT plan, Materialsfor

Tomorrow's Infrastructure : A Ten

Year Plan for Deploying HighPerformance Construction Materials

and Systems, was published in FY

95. The National Construction

Goals provide a strong focus for

the CONMAT program. Highperformance construction materials

and systems will play a key role in

reaching the goals. For example,

high-performance concrete that is more easily placed will result in

reduced inspection and mainte- nance costs associated with repair.

Similar examples exist for most

other materials.

NCSBCS is bringing togetlier federal, state, and

local government regulators and construction

industry representatives to streamline the regulatory process.

A contract has been signed with the

National Conference of States on

Building Codes and Standards

(NCSBCS) to start a project on

"Streamlining and Reforming the

Nation's Building Regulatory

System to Facilitate Public Safety,

Economic IDevelopment, and the

Use of Innovative Technologies,"

which addresses the goal for reduction in delivery time. A letter from

Dr. Good, Under Secretary for

Technology, to most agencies

involved in construction and building R&D, regulation and federal

construction has developed positive

response from a number of agencies. The project was announced

to interested organizations at the

NCSBCS annual convention in

September. The project will collect

viable model rules, regulations,

processes, procedures or legislation

for effective and efficient building,

fire safety and environmental codes

and standards adoption and

enforcement, permitting, administration and processing, comprehensive planning, infrastructure, zoning

and land use, building design and

construction, building product

approvals, and education and training. Subsequently the project part- ners will develop model procedures

and implementing legislation and

promote the adoption and use of

such streamlined processes and procedures by all levels of government.

The primary efforts of the C&B

Subcommittee for 1 997 will be

working with industry to achieve

construction goals, streamlining regulation, focussing and coordinating

federal R&D on collaborations with

industry and supporting other multiagency initiatives associated with

construction and building.

An agreement was

reached between

CERF and the

National Evaluation

Service to develop

an enhanced

evaluation process

29
U.S. Interactions

TheLaboratory has made a concerted effort to improve

communication with the

building and fire communities

through printed and electronic

media. Collaborating With Our

Customers, a full-color brochure,

describes the organization, facilities,

and programs of the Building and

Fire Research Laboratory of interest

to: owners, designers and constructors; producers and suppliers; standards and codes developers; and fire safety officials. It has been widely

distributed to industry, organizations, academia and government

agencies. An 1 8-minute video,

BFRL — Your Partner in Building has

been widely distributed. To provide

more detailed information on our

technical programs and products,

three special publications have been

released. Project Summaries,

Publications, and Impacts. These

documents have been produced

only annually, so BFRL has added a

full-color Research Update, which is mailed to about 5,000 recipients.

For more than two years BFRL has

had a site on the World Wide Web

and is constantly updating its home

page and redesigning its organization to include more news items

such as those appearing in Research

Update and provide easier access to

items of interest to users. In addition to the Web site, BFRL has initiated an intranet on its local area network for use by BFRL staff only.

This intranet will improve communications within the laboratory and

make more information easily available to staff in an electronic format.

Oollaboration

vifith Industrv

Muchof the C&B effort

noted above has been in

collaboration with industry. The NIST Building and Fire

Research Laboratory's "strategy for

success" is to build on the ties that

have been developed to identify

research needs, focus our program

on meeting those needs and provide

products that will assist the sectors of the construction and building

industry (residential, commercial,

institutional, industrial and public

works) to meet their expressed

goals. To take advantage of the formation of sector groups working

with C&B, namely the Civil

Engineering Research Foundation,

the National Association of

Homebuilders, the National

Institute of Building Sciences, the

Construction Industry Institute,

and the American Public Works

Association, BFRL has identified a

senior staff person to work with

each group, attend their meetings,

and find out their research needs so

that BFRL could shape its building

and fire research program to better

meet the needs of industry.

Industrv

BFRL works with industry consortia in a number of areas including

the demonstration of a standard

communication protocol for building automation and control systems

(BACnet), an application protocol

for the process plant industries

(PlantSTEP), the development of

plans for high performance construction materials (CONMAT),

the prediction of the service life of

paint, the demonstration and validation of methods to predict and

relate the photodegradation

response of coating systems exposed

to UV radiation, the development

of a methodology for evaluating seams of rubber roofing membranes, the development of guide

lines for intentional burning of fuel

spills on land and water, and evaluation of combined installations of

sprinklers, draft curtains and heat

and smoke vents for fire protection

in industrial buildings.

BACnet

BFRL has entered into a cooperative

research and development agreement with 1 7 partners to develop

interoperable building control

equipment that communicates

using the BACnet protocol. Fifteen

of the consortiimTL members are manufacturers of building control

equipment, one is a software development company, and one is a university. The objective of the consor- tium is to assist the member companies in developing products that

conform to the BACnet standard

and to develop conformance testing

tools and procedures that can be

used to establish an industry-run

certification program. BACnet

building control products will

enable building owners to buy control systems on a competitive basis.

It will also provide a way to interconnect traditionally stand-alone

building control systems such as HVAC, fire, lighting and security.

This will enable buildings to operate more efficiendy while improving

occupant comfort and safety. Five of

the consortium member companies

now have commercial BACnet

products on the market and

BACnet systems have been installed

in approximately 350 buildings

world wide. BFRLs contribution to

the consortium has been the development of test methods and software testing tools and provision of

facilities for member companies to

bring their prototype products

together for testing.

BACnet systems

have been installed

in approximately 350

buildings world wide

30
PlantSTEP

As a result of the BFRL collaboration

with the PlantSTEP consortium, the

first STEP application protocol for

the process plant industries, ISO

10303-227, was submitted to ISO

TC184/SC4 for review and ballot as an ISO committee draft standard.

The process plant industries include

the chemical, pharmaceutical and

power-generation industries, engineering and construcuon indtistries,

and the suppliers and fabricators of

components and eqtiipment for

process plants. NIST engineers are working with the process plant

industries and the vendors of information technology for these industries to develop, test and demonstrate

information exchange standards

based on ISO 1 0303, commonlyreferred to as STEP Standard for the

Exchange of Product Model Data.

ISO 10303-227, Plant Spatial

Configuration, supports the

exchange of the spatial configuration

of plant systems with a central

emphasis on piping systems. This

committee draft standard supports

the information required to construct piping systems, including the

shape, material and arrangement of

components, and supports the physical description of other plant sys- tems, e.g., heating, ventilation and

air conditioning systems.

CONMAT

BFRL, in collaboration with the

Materials Science and Engineering

Laboratory, established a $2.5 million

per year program in support of

CONMAT, a national program

developed by Civil Engineering

Research Foundation, working with

12 major associations of the constmction materials industry, to "develop

the high-performance constmction

materials and systems necessary for

America's economic well-being and

international competitiveness in the

21st century." The program involves

four BFRL divisions plus the Office

ofApplied Economics and includes

research on high-performance concrete, steel, polymer-matrix composites, coating materials, and roofing

systems.

Coatings Service Life

Consortium

Seven members of the paint industry have joined with BFRL to form

the Coatings Service Life Prediction

Consortium. The goal of the con- sortium is to find a better way to

predict the service life of paint to

help the paint industry get better

products to market faster. The consortium's main project will be to

develop a test method that will

quickly and reliably predict the ser- vice life of painted products exposed

to the prime weathering factors:

sunlight, temperature and wetness.

BFRL will also work with the members to tailor a weathering test program for each member's needs. In

addition, BFRL will develop a menu-driven, user-friendly system

to help weathering laboratories

design experiments, test assumptions and fit models.

Rubber Roofing IVIembranes

Three rubber membrane manufacturers, two adhesive manufacturers

and two trade associations have

joined with BFRL to form the

Consortium for Developing a Methodology for Evaluating Seams

of Rubber Roofing Membranes.

EPDM rubber accounts for about

30 percent of the roof membranes

installed on commercial and industrial buildings. The goal of the consortitmni is to recommend a test protocol and criteria for evaluating the

long-term creep performance of

tape-bonded seams in EPDM

membranes. The use of tapebonded seams is a rather recent

innovation in the EPDM roofing

industry, and its use is expected to

increase in the future in response to

needs for reliable, environmentally

friendly methods for forming seams

in EPDM membranes.

31
U. S. Interactions

Oil Spill Clean-Up

Several regions of the United States,

Canada and Europe are presently

evaluating the feasibility of using

burning as a remediation tool for

large oil spills. In particular, the

Alaska Regional Response Team

(ARRT) has been working over the

past decade to develop procedures

and guidelines to facilitate the decision process regarding international

in situ burning of crude oil spills. As

part of their effort to assess the dispersion of smoke plumes from in

situ burning on nearby areas, the

ARRT and the Alaska Department

of Environmental Conservation

(ADEC) established a Cooperative

Research and Development Agreement with the NIST in 1993.

Laboratory-scale and large-scale

experiments have been conducted

to determine the heat release rate and smoke yield from two types of

Alaskan crude oils, North Slope and

Cook Inlet, as well as several other

fuels. These experiments have been

used to determine the input parameters for the ALOFT (A Large

Outdoor Fire Plume Trajectory)

model. This numerical model predicts the concentration of combustion products from large oil fires several kilometers to several tens of

kilometers downwind over complex

terrain. Using Digital Elevation

Maps provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, site-specific simulations of smoke plumes have been

performed to establish guidelines

governing the extent of ground-level

particulate concentrations in excess of state and national ambient air

quality standards. Cooperation in

this effort has been provided by

Alaska Clean Seas, an oil spill cooperative funded by the major oil

companies, and by EMCON

Alaska, Inc., an environmental consulting firm. (EMCON is presently

funding NIST to develop the complex terrain plume model.)

Sprinklers/Draft CurtainsA/ents

The National Fire Protection

Research Foundation (NFPRF) has

undertaken a project to evaluate the

interaction of sprinklers with draft

curtains and smoke/heat vents. The

goal of the project is to provide a new technical finding that could aid

in settling the long-standing debate

as to the conditions under which

vents and draft curtains are beneficial, and under which they are detrimental, to the performance of a

sprinkler system in large enclosures.

To reach the goal, fiall-scale commodity fires are being planned by

BFRL engineers David Stroup and

Kevin McGrattan for a space that

will mimic as much as possible large

storage and manufacturing facilities. Accompanying the experimental

work will be an effort to simulate

the proposed experiments with a

field model presently under development by Kevin McGratten. The

project is being funded by a consor- tium of ten companies in the

United States and Europe. The

large-scale testing will take place in

1 997, accompanied by smaller scale

material testing at BFRL under the

direction ofAnthony Hamins.

D

reements

In addition to agreements signed

with consortia, NIST has cooperative research and development

agreements (CRADAs) with one or more industrial partners. Current

CRADAs partners include:

MSI Inc. (formerly Biosym, Inc.).

Under a CRADA between NIST

and this commercial molecular

modeling company the two organizations announced a new computer

code to be released in 1997. This

computer code will include NIST

algorithm, MD_REACT, which

calculates the behavior of polymer

chains during thermal degradation.

The interface between the Biosym

and NIST soft-ware was developed

by Marc Nyden, a BFRL scientist.

Air-Conditioning and

Refrigeration Institute

A CRADA to study the performance of a finned-tube evaporator

operating with R-407C, an

ozone-safe zeotropic refrigerant mixture has been established between

NIST and the Air-Conditioning

and Refrigeration Institute, an asso- ciation of manufacturers of heating,

ventilating, air-conditioning and

refrigeration products. The tide of

the CRADA is "Impact ofAir-Side

Maldistribution on Performance of

Finned-Tube Evaporator with R-22

and Zeotropic Mixture R-407C."

The effect of non-uniform air distribution on the heat exchanger's

capacity is the particular interest of

this project. The study will determine whether the capacity penalty

caused by non-uniform air distribution at the heat exchanger's inlet is similar to that experienced with the

R-22 evaporator and will indicate

the circuitry arrangements most

appropriate for R-407C. This information will enable the evaporator

designer to generate coil designs

32
that will be less affected by air maldistribution. As the technical contribution to this partnership with ARI,

NIST has developed a detailed

evaporator model applicable to

zeotropic mixturesand maldistributed air and performed simulations

for a variety of air maldistributions

andcircuitry designs.

General Motors

NIST has joined forces with

General Motors in a two-year project to improve motor vehicle fire

safety. Under terms of the recendy

signed cooperative research and

development agreement, researchers

from the Building and Fire Research

Laboratory and GM's Research and

Development Center will evaluate

the fire safety aspects of vehicle

crash and fire tests, identify potential mechanisms by which fires could start and then create laboratory models of these mechanisms. The

data derived will enable researchers

to characterize fire properties of

potential combustibles in vehicles,

determine fire growth paths and

time lines, and evaluate fire hazards

to vehicle occupants. CM and

NIST will then use this knowledge

to study both passive protection measures (e.g., less flammable materials in critical locations and

improved fire barriers) and active

fire suppression technologies.

Electric Power Research

Institute

NIST has a CRADA with the

Electric Power Research Institute

(EPRI). EPRI is fixnded by annual

membership dues from some 700

member utilities, and its work covers a wide range of technologies

related to the generation, delivery

and use of electricity, with special

attention paid to cost-effectiveness

and environmental concerns. The

joint effort between EPRI and

NIST will produce detailed information on the indoor air quality

and energy impacts of residential

ventilation systems. This information will enable informed decisions

regarding ventilation system selection and design as a ftinction of

building type, indoor pollutant

emissions and climate. As of

November 1996, EPRI and NIST

have agreed on the house, system

and pollutant parameters that will

be examined in the project and have

started the computer simulations

that will be the major component

of the effort. NIST's contribution to

this partnership involves performing

the computer simulations and analyzing the output.

Another CRADA with EPRI allows

NIST to access to the strong

motion records that EPRI was able

to collect from the Lotung strong

motion array in Taiwan. Analysis of

these data will enhance our understanding in the non-linear soil

behaviors, which is critical to the

analysis of the performance of

buildings and lifelines subject to

strong ground shaking.

This information will

enable informed

decisions regarding

ventilation system

selection and design

as a function of

building type, indoor

pollutant emissions

and climate

33
U.S. Interactions

Process Data Exchange

Institute

In September 1995, BFRL and the

Chemical Science and Technology

Laboratory entered into a CRADA

with the Process Data Exchange

Institute (pdXi) of the American

Institute of Chemical Engineers.

The mission of pdXi is to develop

and maintain open approaches to

electronically exchange and manage

process data. The objective of this

CRADA is to develop, test, demonstrate and standardize STEP application protocols needed for

exchanging and sharing conceptual

process design and process engineering information during the design,

construction, maintenance and

operations of process plants, e.g., chemical, pharmaceutical and

power-generation plants. The current members of pdXi include: ABB

Lummus, Air Products, Amoco

Chemical, Aspen Technology,

Bechtel, B-JAC, Brown & Root,

Chevron, Eastman Chemical, E.I. DuPont &c Co., Exxon, HTFS,

HTRI, Hyprotech, M. W. Kellogg,

Mobil R&D, Rohm & Haas,

Simulation Sciences, Snamprogetti,

Union Carbide and UOP The

delivery and implementation of the

STEP application protocols for

process engineering will: 1 ) enable

timely and reliable information

sharing during the design, construction, maintenance and operation of

process plants, 2) reduce information transfer costs and errors, 3)

enable optimization of work

processes and project partnerships,

4) expand the use of electronic

commerce, and 5) expand the capabilities of the U.S. process, engineering and equipment manufacturing

industry to leverage information

technology for competitive advantages. NIST is providing technical

support for the development of the

application protocols, coordinating

collaborations with international

programs and ISO, and providing a

neutral laboratory for testing draft

application protocols, assessing

implementations, and demonstrating results. NIST and pdXi completed the requirements specification for the Process Engineering

Application Protocol (AP 231)

and distributed the requirements

specification for industry review and

comment in September 1996

(NISTIR 5909). NIST and pdXi

developed an initial set of test problems and usage scenarios for validating the draft application protocol

and for assessing implementations

of the application protocol. The

CRADA is scheduled to end in

September 1997.

Codes and

Standards

Building codes and standards play an important role in the delivery

mechanism for much of the

research of the BFRL. BFRL staff

participate in many national and

international standards committees,

including those of the American

Concrete Institute; American

Society of Civil Engineers;

American Society of Heating,

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

Engineers; American Institute of

Steel Construction; ASTM; the

National Fire Protection Association; and the International

Organization for Standardization.

The broadest range of participation

is in ASTM where involvement

includes Committee C009,

Concrete and Concrete Aggregates;

Committee DOO 1 , Paint and

Related Coating Materials; Committee D004, Road and Paving

Materials; Committee D008,

Roofing, Waterproofing and

Bituminous Materials; Committee

E05, Fire Standards; and Committee E06, Performance of Buildings.

Through its national standards

activities and its participation in the

International Advisory Committee

of the International Codes Council,

BFRL is supporting the council's

development of a single national

model building code.

34
International Interactions

U«INR

Fire

and Safety

on

aroh

The objective of the U.S.-Japan

Natural Resources Program (UJNR)

is to exchange information on

research results and exchange

scientists and engineers in the area of natural resources for the benefit

of both countries. UJNR is composed of 1 6 panels, each responsible

for specific technical subjects.

The 13th Joint Meeting of the

U.S.-Japan Panel on Fire Research

and Safety took place at NIST in

March 1996. The objectives of the

panel, which was established in

1975, are to: encourage, develop

and implement the exchange of

information and data in fire and

smoke physics, toxicity chemistry

and risk and hazard evaluation; promote cooperative research in areas of fire safety and combustion toxicity; encourage innovations in

development of risk assessment

methods, fire test methods and

design standards; establish a multinational consensus of computerbased fire modeling; develop performance fire codes; and develop new

fire protection and prevention technology appropriate to modern products and design. The Japanese sent a

delegation of 25 scientists for this

year's meeting and the U.S. had 48

participants including many NIST

staff. A total of 67 technical papers were presented in sessions devoted

to design/risk/performance standards, burning of real objects, experimental refinement and validation

of fire models, suppression, materials and testing, and fires after earthquakes. As part of the panel meeting, symposia were held to honor

two mainstays of fire research: a ses- sion in honor of Prof. Edward

Zukoski on the occasion of his retirement from the California Institute

of technology and one was held in

memory of Prof. Kunio Kawagoe of

Tokyo Science University.

Collaborative research in U.S. and

Japanese laboratories has enabled

staff from each country to use facilities not existent at home. The

research has advanced the state of

fire science and technology in such

areas as fire smoke toxicity, fire detection, fire suppression, micro

gravity combustion, thermal degradation of polymers, intumescent

polymer burning, wall fire modeling, smoke yields from pool fires,

smoke flow in buildings, building

fire modeling, large fires and rate-ofheat release measurement. These

joint efforts have built the knowledge base on essential fire phenomena to support the development and

validation of models to predict fire hazard and risk.

UUNR Panel on

Wind and

The 28th Joint Meeting of the

U.S.-Japan Panel on Wind and

Seismic Effects was held at NIST

in May 1996.

NIST provides the U.S.-side chair

and secretariat. The Public Works

Research Institute (PWRI), Japan,

provides the Japan-side chair and

secretariat. Forty-six papers were

written, 21 by U.S. members and

25 by Japanese members. Thirtyfour papers were presented orally;

16 by the U.S.-side and 18 by the

Japan-side. The papers were organized into five themes: Wind

Engineering; Earthquake Engineering; Storm Surge and Tsunamis;

Summary ofJoint Cooperative

Research Programs; and Report of

Task Committee Workshops con- ducted during the past year. Also,

eight papers were presented at two

mini-symposia during the technical

site visit segment of the Joint Panel

Meeting, four from each side. The

papers were presented at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis,

and at the Oregon Department of

Geology and Mineral Industries,

Portland. The Japan-side papers are included in these proceedings in the

section, Japan-side Papers Presented

at Mini-Symposia. These joint

efforts have led to substantial

improvements in U.S. and Japanese

wind and earthquake safety knowledge and priorities.

U.S. -Japan Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects was held at NIST in May 1996

35
International Interactions

The Japanese

industry still

surpasses the U.S.

industry in most

construction

technologies

Panel on

Innovation in

the Japanese

Construction

Industry

Richard Gann, Chief of the Fire

Science Division, chaired the U.S.

Panel on Innovation in the Japanese

Construction Industry, which prepared the 1996 report. Innovation

in the Japanese Construction Industry:

A 1995 Appraisal.

This panel found the Japanese construction industry to be solid and

progressive. The large firms have

superb laboratories, with nearly 10

times the U.S. R&D expenditures.

The Japanese industry still surpasses

the U.S. industry in most construction technologies. The report documents the status of these technologies and the motivations for the

continued R&D investment. At the

time the report was prepared, the

Japanese domestic recession and the

strong yen were taking a strong toll,

and the panel saw only refinements

of technologies introduced earlier

and applications of lessons learned.

However, should the yen exchange

rate rise, Japan is well-poised to increase its successes in the international competition. The U.S. industry would be helped by improved

public/private sector R&D efforts.

Korea

In September 1995, an Implementing Agreement was

signed between NIST and the

Korean Institute of Energy Research

of the Republic of Korea. The

agreement is for a period of five

years and its purpose is to exchange

scientific and technological knowledge and to encourage the joint

research in the field of energy technology The first two years of this

agreement will involve conducting

joint research and the possible

exchange of personnel to develop

methods for the automated

real-time performance optimization,

fault detection and diagnosis of

thermal systems, especially HVAC

processes to improve energy efficiency increase safety and reliability and

reduce operating cost.

NIST has developed a program to

assist developing nations in the use of U.S. building codes and standards. This work is being conducted

in cooperation with the National

Conference of States on Building

Codes and Standards. The first country identified is Saudi Arabia

which has requested NIST to assist

in the development of a building

code and standards program for the

country as a means to improve

opportunities for economic development and safeguard the health

and safety of its people.

36
International

ation for

Through the International Organization for Standardization, NIST

engineers and scientists have participated in the development of technical reports, guides and international

standards in five areas, namely, coatings (TC 35/SC9), functional/ user requirements (TC59/SC3), fire safety engineering (TC92/SC4), plant

industry standard technical exchange

protocols (TC184/SC4), and building control system design (TC205/

WG3). In addition, by participating

in ISO Technical Advisory Groups

on building and civil engineering

construction standards, NIST engi- neers can follow the progress of technical committees dealing with the

basis for the design of structures,

reinforced and prestressed concrete,

timber structures, steel and aluminum structures, masonary, thermal insulation, environmental design

and environmental management.

TC35, Paints and Varnishes, established in 1947, writes standards for

the coatings industry, including

those addressing methods of testing

and specifications for coating components and for ready-made coatings

in liquid or powder form. SC9 is the

subcommittee on general test methods for paints and varnishes. It has

1 0 active working groups addressing

physical, mechanical and optical

properties of coating films, fire test- ing, leaching rates from antifouling

coatings and environmental and performance testing. This ISO subcom

mittee provides an avenue for NIST s program on lead abatement and the

Coatings Service Life Prediction

Consortium program on the prediction of the service life of paint to

impact international markets. NIST

hosted the 1996 meeting of SC9.

Geoffrey Frohnsdorfl^ chairs

TC59/SC3/W69, addressing the

design life of buildings. The committee is producing a series of documents dealing with the planning of,

and maintenance management for,

the service life of buildings.The

design life of buildings is becoming

progressively more important internationally not only because of the

cost of building replacement but

also because of the environmental

impact of building demolition waste

and the need for raw materials.

BFRUs program on high performance materials and systems will

have a strong influence on the direction of the ISO activity. BFRL engi- neers are also helping to develop

performance standards for one and

two family dwellings. These performance standards are intended to

assist the U.S. housing industry in

removing barriers to U.S. housing

products and will provide the basis

for increased global trade in housing

products, components, systems and

know-how.

TC 92/SC4 is developing eight

guides and technical reports including a framework for fire safety calculations, the assessment and verification of fire models, the generation

of fire effluents, fire spread, detection and extinguishment and life safety. BFRL work on fire models

and their verification has had a major influence on the technical

content of these international

reports expected to be completed

in draft: early in 1 997.

TC184/SC4 has initiated projects to

develop STEP Application Protocols

for information exchange in a number of industrial sectors. BFRL engi- neers are helping to plan and coordinate AP projects in WG3/T12,

which covers architecttire, engineering and construction, and are making techinical contributions to specific projects that address the needs

of the process plant industries,

notably ISO 10303-221 Functional

Data and their Schematic Representation for Process Plants. ISO 10303-

227 Plant Spatial Configuration, ISO

1 0303-230 Building Structural

Frame: Steelwork, and ISO 10303-

23 1 Process Engineering Data.

The AP227 and AP231 projects were

described in an earlier section.

BFRL engineer Kent Reed is working collaboratively with the American

Institute of Steel Construction to

review the STEP AP230 project on

steelwork and ensure U.S. requirements are met. This application protocol is intended to support computer applications providing analysis,

member design, connection design

and detailing functions to designers

and constructors of structures in

buildings and plants. Reed is working collaboratively with researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to

understand the requirements for capturing information during early

building design and with a researcher

at the University of Maryland to

understand the requirements for supporting constructability analysis programs. BFRL engineer Mark Palmer

is working within the United States

and in the ISO arena to ensure technical harmonization of the STEP

AP221, AP227 and AP231 projects.

TC 205AVG 3 Building Control

System Design is working to develop

a multipart international standard for

various aspects of building control

system design and practice. The parts

of the standard are: overview and

definitions, control system functionality, communication protocols, control system specifications, and project

management process. Various existing national and European standards,

including ANSI/ASHRAE 135

BACnet, are being considered for

adoption as a draft standard for the

various parts of this effort. The con- venor for this working group is BFRL staff member Steve Bushby.

37
International Interactions

International

Oouncil for

Buildincp Research

Studies and

fCIB)

Jack Snell serves on the board of the

International Council for Building

Research Studies and Documentation (CIB) which is the principal

international forum for communication among building researchers - whether in government, academia

or industry. CIB is in a period of

transition. In the past, it served

mostly European institutes for

building research and testing. More

recendy it has been increasingly a venue for academia building

researchers. Most recently, a number

of trends have come to bear on

CIB, including diminishing governmental roles and increasing industry

involvement in building research;

internationalization and global markets; a growing emphasis on nontechnical topics and multidisciplinary approaches (from a product/

testing orientation to greater attention to system and problem solving); and, of course, advances in

technology, most notably computer

and information technologies.

On top of this, CIB now has a new Secretary General, Wim

Bakens, who is eager to see CIB

respond to new opportunities by

exploiting information technology,

providing new products and services

to industry, seeing CIB take a

proactive role in prestandardization

activities, aggressively developing its membership and developing purposefLil relationships with external

organizations.

BFRL engineer Richard Bukowski

represents building and fire interests

in CIB Commission W^14 on Fire

Safety. He chairs a working group

on a multinational effort to examine

the predictive capability of fire models. Also, James Gross, Assistant

Director of BFRL, is actively

involved in the development of performance standards for buildings.

In cooperation with colleagues in

the private sector, BFRL engineer

Steven Bushby presented the

progress made on the development

of communication protocols for

building automation systems at the 13th International CIB

World Congress.

RILE

James Pielert, who heads the NIST

Concrete Materials Testing

Laboratory, is the U.S. delegate to RILEM, the International Union of

Testing and Research Laboratories for

Materials and Stmctures. BFRL is rec- ognized for playing a major role in the

management of RILEM and playing a major role in several of its technical

committees. Constmcrion technology

being developed within those technical committees has direct application

to the research programs of the

Building and Fire Research Laboratory and in the preparation of stan- dards by ASTM and other organizations. Particularly significant to BFRL

are the committees on the interfacial

transition zone in concrete, modeling,

transport properties of concrete, freeze

thaw and the de-icing resistance of

concrete, the role of admixtures in

high performance concrete, the development of a service life prediction

methodology for constmcrion materials and roofing materials and systems.

FORUiVi for

international

Fire R< rch

In August 1996, Jack SneU, who

directs the BFRL fire research program, was joined by the heads of 14

other fire research laboratories from

1 2 countries at a meeting of the

FORUM for International

Cooperation on Fire Research at Trondheim, Norway. BFRL acts as secretariat to the Multi-lab

FORUM. Among the specific problems that the FORUM agreed to

address are the supply of qualified

fire researchers, the coordination of

fire incident data, fire tools not

arriving in practice, well structured

model verification tests, global fire research needs and strategy, funding

for fundamental fire research, guidelines for model selection, methods

of fire investigation, and research on

specific topology of buildings.

Ameri

Ooncr

Institute

Advisory

James Gross is a member of the

American Concrete Instimte

Advisory Committee on

International Standards which has

recently received the Secretariat

responsibility of the Committee on

Concrete, ISO TC71. Plans are under way to develop performance

standards for concrete design of

construction.

38
Major Conferences,

Seminars and Workshops

CERF International

Symposium: Engineering and

Construction for Sustainable

Development in the 21 st

Century

BFRL was a principal co-sponsor

and planning director of CERF's

International Symposium on

Construction and Engineering for

Sustainable Development in the

21st Century, February 1996. More

than 500 leaders worldwide attended this four-day symposium to

develop a detailed global research

agenda that focused on the needs of

the design and construction communities. Thirty-eight research

prospectuses were developed under

six themes by the symposium participants that formed the basis for a

research agenda. The six themes

included:

• learning, education, and training;

• information systems/technology

transfer;

• performance specifications/global

standards;

• modeling and measurement

systems;

• demonstrations and performance

testing; and

" integrated delivery systems.

The agenda addressed how to

enhance and accelerate the process

for moving design and construction

technologies into practice. Work

was done through five thrusts:

• management and business

practices;

• design technologies and practices;

• construction and equipment

practices;

• materials and systems; and

• public and government policy.

The next steps involve assembling

teams of participating international

organizations into consortia to bring

the themes into realization.

International Conference on

Fire Research and

Engineering

The BFRL 1995 annual fire confer- ence was held in Orlando, Fla., and

jointly sponsored by BFRL and the

Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

The conference focussed on advances

in fire research and engineering

applications and brought together

leaders in the field from around the

world. Ninety-three papers were

presented, together with 1 8 posters

and a special one-half day panel

"Defining Fire and Smoke Spread

Dynamics in the Dupont Plaza

Hotel Fire of December 31, 1986."

Session topics included: compartment fires, large fires, suppression,

water mist, fire dynamics, wall fires,

calorimetry, performance based fire codes, egress/human factors, decision-risk, materials, smoke, model

development, model verification,

model applications, special hazards,

smoke control and fire resistance.

Annual Fire Conference 1996

The 1996 annual fire conference

was held in Gaithersburg, Md., and

focussed on fire research performed

within federal laboratories or sponsored by federal agencies, as well as work from laboratories around the

world. Seventy-six papers were presented on the phenomenology of

fire. Session topics included: fire extinguishment, the chemistry and

physics of material and product

combustion, flame spread, flame

structure, soot, pool fires, fire- induced flows, fire plumes, combustion product generation and measurement, and fire detection.

Construction Technology

Extension Program Workshop

In March 1 996 a planning workshop was held in Gaithersburg,

Md., to explore the concept of a construction technology extension

program styled on the NIST

Manufacturing Extension

Partnership. The workshop was

attended by approximately 45 representatives from industry trade and

professional associations, government agencies, labor organizations,

academia and small construction

firms. The workshop participants

identified the most important ser- vices that should be provided,

including assistance with information technologies; workforce training and education; standards, codes,

conformance assessment and product approval; assistance with technical and business practices; and clearinghouse functions. Alternative

delivery mechanisms, adding construction expertise to MEP centers

and a separate extension network

for construction, were discussed

extensively. Recognizing that ease and speed of service accessibility by

small firms is critical, some combination of the two delivery mechanisms may emerge as the most

efi^ective.

CIKS Workshop

A workshop, sponsored by ASTM,

CERF and BFRL, was held June 13

and 14, 1996, to discuss a National

Partnership on a ComputerIntegrated Knowledge Systems

(CIKS) Network for HighPerformance Construction Materials

and Systems. Approximately 70

representatives from construction

industry organizations representing

private industry; federal, state and

local government; and academia

attended the workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to provide a forum for discussing a partnership which is designed to stimulate the accelerated and widespread

dissemination of knowledge on

high-performance construction

materials through the development

of a CIKS network. The fianctional

goals that are proposed for CIKS

which were discussed at the meeting

include: 1) providing universal electronic access to distributed material

data, information and knowledge;

2) the development of application

39
Major Oonferences,

Seminars and Workshops

systems for use in material design,

facility design, construction, operation, maintenance, repair and disposal; 3) the establishment of a test bed for industry, government and

university partners to build and

evaluate prototype systems and

enabling information technologies;

and 4) the potential for commercial-scale systems that are developed,

deployed and maintained by industry. Pilot projects were identified,

discussed and proposed by the seven working groups that met. Several

are currendy being developed by the

CIKS Material Working Groups. A

NIST report documenting the

workshop findings, results and proposals has been developed and will

be published in early 1 997.

Fire/Lifeline Interface

Workshop

Working with the U.S. fire protection and lifeline engineering communities, BFRL conducted a

Fire/Lifeline Interface workshop in

late January 1995 to discuss important issues identified as a result of

recent damaging earthquakes. The

workshop proceedings, published in

September 1995, summarize the

workshop findings and recommend

research priorities. Based on these

recommendations, BFRL has provided over 20 grants to the private

sector and to universities.

Green Buildings Conference

NIST co-sponsored with the U.S.

Green Building Council the Second

Annual Green Building Conference

in Big Sky, Mon., on August 13-15,

1995. Approximately 300 people

attended this conference which featured 27 speakers. The conference

focused on the design, construction,

operation, maintenance and demolition of buildings in an environmental and cost-effective manner. The conference proceedings were

published as NIST Special

Publication 888 entided Second

International Green Building

Conference and Exposition — 1995-

Twenty-Sixth International

Symposium on Combustion

In July 1 996, NIST co-sponsored

the Combustion Institute's TwentySixth International Symposium on

Combustion held in Naples, Italy.

The symposium consisted of five

days of papers presented in six parallel sessions and seven invited minireviews on special topics of current

interest. There were 448 general

papers and 459 work-in-progress

poster papers. NIST staff chaired a number of the sessions and presented 1 0 technical papers and four

posters.

40
Finances

$16.8M

$16.6M

In-house Research NIST Congressionally

Appropriated (SIRS)

Funds

$10.2M

$8.6M

In-house Research

Other Agency Funds

$0.8M $0.9M

other Resources

FY 95

FY 96

$2.9M

Grants to Other

Organizations Including

Academia

Grants

Note: Other resources include:

Other Resources

Advanced Technology Program

Manufacturing Extension

Partnership

Standard Reference Materials

Expense and Income

Other Agency

Funds

NIST

Congressionally

Appropriated

In-house

Research

41
BFRL ORGANIZATION

The functional statements of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, and the Offices, Divisions,

and Groups in the laboratory are as follows:

BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH LABORATORY

Provides the national laboratory concerned with increasing the

usefulness, safety and economy of buildings, innproving the

productivity and international competitiveness of the construction industry, and reducing the human and economic costs of unwanted fires; performs and supports laboratory, field, and

analytical research on the performance of construction materials, components, systems and practices; and the fundamental

processes underlying initiation, propagation, and suppression

of fires; produces technologies to predict, measure, and test

the performance of construction and fire prevention and control materials, components, systems, and practices, and to

assist the construction and fire safety communities in achieving the benefits of advanced computation and automation;

provides research results which are widely used and adopted

by governmental and private sector organizations with standards and codes responsibilities, but does not promulgate

building or fire safety standards or regulations; and conducts

fire research mandated by the Federal Fire Prevention and

Control Act of 1974, research for the improvement of seismic

design and construction practices as assigned by the

Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, as amended, and

structural failure investigations mandated by the NIST

Authorizing Act of FY 1 986.

BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH

LABORATORY OFFICE

Responsible for planning, directing, and implementing the scientific,

technical, and administrative programs of the Laboratory through scientific, administrative, and support personnel.

OFFICE OF APPLIED ECONOMICS: Supports the BFRL

research and BFRL technology deployment to govemment agencies

and construction and fire-related industries; provides standardized

economic methods, economic models, training programs and materials, and expert technical consulting in support of resource allocation

decisions; and uses techniques such as benefit-cost analysis, lifecycle costing, multi-criteria decision analysis, and econometrics to

evaluate new technologies, processes, govemment programs, legislation, and codes and standards to determine efficient alternatives.

OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER : Facilitates the

transfer of scientific and technical output of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory to the user community; manages the cooperative building and fire research programs with other federal agencies

and national and international private organizations; and develops

cooperative research programs with other federal agencies and agencies of foreign governments.

STRUCTURES DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. H.S. Lew, 301 -975-6061

)

Increases the productivity and safety of building construction by providing technical bases for improved structural and earthquake design

criteria; conducts laboratory, field, and analytical research in structural engineering which includes: investigation of important structural failures, characterization of normal and extreme loads on buildings

occurring during construction and in service, associated structural response and methods for providing desired reliability, development of design criteria for reduction of risks from natural hazards, evaluation methods and criteria for safe and economical construction practices,

engineering properties of soils and foundations, and nondestructive

evaluation methods and criteria for increasing structural properties.

STRUCTURAL EVALUATION GROUP: Conducts laboratory,

field, and analytical research in structural engineering when activities

include: development of nondestructive evaluation methods and criteria for assessing structural properties; development of methods for the

identification of dynamic response characteristics of flexible members

and structural networks; development of technical criteria and methodologies for the strengthening and repair of structural members and

systems; characterization of normal and extreme loads on buildings

during construction and in service; and investigation of important

structural failures.

EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING GROUP: Provides research

data and technical support for the development and application of

seismic design and construction practices for new and existing buildings and lifelines when activities include: laboratory and analytical

studies needed for improving codes and standards pertaining to new

construction; the development of criteria regarding the repair and

strengthening of existing structures; the development of procedures to

evaluate the response of structural systems to seismic loading; post- earthquake investigations to ascertain the effectiveness of design and

construction practices in actual earthquakes; and technical support to

the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).
BFRL ORGANIZATION

BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH LABORATORY

BUILDING MATERIALS DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. Geoffrey J. Frohnsdorff,

301 -975-6706)

Advances construction materials science and technology and disseminates improved techniques and data for making decisions concerning

construction materials; conducts analytical, laboratory, and field

research which includes methods of measurement and prediction of

service life, bases for improved criteria and standards for evaluation,

selection, use, and maintenance of construction materials, and

improved tools to aid the making of decisions concerning construction

materials; provides technical support to national and international

standards-writing organizations such as the American Society for

Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the International Standards

Organization (ISO); and conducts cooperative programs with other

research organizations, professional societies, standards-writing

groups, testing laboratories, and educational institutions.

ORGANIC BUILDING MATERIALS GROUP: Carries out

analytical, laboratory, and field research on the performance of organic building materials such as paints and coatings, roofing materials,

and sealants and adhesives; provides technical bases for improved

criteria and standards for evaluation, selection, and use of these

materials; and disseminates improved techniques and data for making

decisions on organic building materials, including methodologies for

predicting service life.

INORGANIC BUILDING MATERIALS GROUP: Carries out

analytical, laboratory, and field research on the performance of cement and concrete and other inorganic building materials such as

building stone; provides technical bases for improved criteria and

standards for evaluation, selection, and use of these materials; and

disseminates improved techniques and data for making decisions on

inorganic building materials, including methodologies for predicting

service life.

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS REFERENCE

LABORATORIES: Provides technical support for improvement in

the quality of construction materials testing, the development of

national and international standards, and the advancement of construction materials technology; manages the AASHTO and ASTMsponsored research associateship programs which (1 ) provide laboratory inspection and proficiency sample programs, (2) conduct studies

to aid in the understanding and improvement of standard methods of

test, and (3) support the development of standards by national and

international organizations such as ASTM and ISO.

BUILDING ENVIRONMENT DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. James E. Hill, 301-975-5851)

Reduces the cost of designing and operating buildings and increases

the international competitiveness of the U.S. building industry by providing modeling, measurement, and test methods needed to use advanced computation and automation effectively in construction, and

to improve the quality of the indoor environment and the performance

of building equipment; conducts laboratory, field, and analytical research on building mechanical and control systems; develops data,

measurement methods, and modeling techniques for the performance

of the building envelope, its insulation systems, building air leakage,

the release, movement and absorption of indoor air pollutants; and

develops software performance criteria, interface standards, and test methods needed for the Nation's building industry to make effective use of modern computer-aided design hardware and software, and

database management systems.

THERMAL MACHINERY GROUP: Identifies and characterizes new atmospheric-safe refrigerants and refrigerant mixtures that

contribute to energy-efficient refrigeration applications; works cooperatively with the Thermophysics Division of NIST in determining the ther- mophysical properties of the new refrigerants to support industrial design of equipment using these refrigerants; and evaluates alternate

refrigeration cycles, systems, and components that will operate efficiently with new refrigerants.

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS AND CONTROLS GROUP:

Improves and lowers the cost of building services by fostering the development and use of more intelligent, integrated, and optimized

building mechanical systems; develops design tools, diagnostic procedures, and performance evaluation techniques for quantifying the per- formance of such systems; develops standard communication protocols

for exchanging information between building management and control systems (BCMS); and develops the technical bases for advanced building controls which will optimize whole building performance.

HEAT TRANSFER GROUP: Develops basic data and simulation models for heat, air, and moisture transfer through building envelope components and assists consensus standards organizations in

the development of appropriate test methods.

COMPUTER INTEGRATED CONSTRUCTION GROUP:

Removes technical barriers faced by the construction industry as it

integrates its activities using computer technology; provides information interface and performance measurement technologies that support industry development and the use of automated products and

services in an integrated environment; develops interface standards,

test methods, and performance criteria for integrated project information and control systems; and develops methodologies and computer-
BFRL ORGANIZATION

BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH LABORAXORY

aids for implementing building standards, specifications, and building

technology knowledge bases in computer usable forms.

INDOOR AIR QUALITY AND VENTILATION GROUP:

Develops measurement and testing procedures, technical data, and

comprehensive indoor air quality models to assist in improved indoor

air quality and ventilation in buildings.

FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING

DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. David Evans, 301-975-6863)

FIRE SCIENCE DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. Richard G. Gann,

301 -975-6864)

Performs research on and develops scientific and engineering under- standing of fire phenomena and metrology for fire research; produces

principles, metrology, data, and predictive methods for the

formation/evolution of smoke components in flames and for the burning of polymeric materials; and develops science and predictive methods to enable high-performance fire detection and suppression sys- tems.

Performs research on and develops engineering methods for fire safety engineers, manufacturers, and other federal agencies to predict the behavior of fire and smoke and assess various means to mitigate the impact of fire on people, property, and the environment. This includes developing and demonstrating the application of analytical tools to

building fire problems; developing analytical models for the quantitative prediction of the threats to people and property from fires and the means to assess the accuracy of those models; developing tech- niques to predict, measure the behavior, and mitigate the impact of

large fires; and operating the Fire Research Information Service and

the Fire Research large-scale fire test facility.

SMOKE DYNAMICS RESEARCH GROUP: Produces scientifically sound principles, metrology, data, and predictive methods

for the formation/evolution of smoke components in flames for use in understanding and predicting general fire phenomena which includes: research on the effects of within-flame and post-flame fluid mechanics on the formation and emission of smoke, including particulates,

aerosols, and combustion gases; understanding the mechanistic pathway for soot from chemical inception to post-flame agglomerates; and

developing calculation methods for the prediction of the yields of CO

(and eventually other toxicants) as a function of fuel type, availability

of air, and fire scale.

LARGE FIRE RESEARCH GROUP: Perfomns research on and develops techniques to measure, predict the behavior of, and mitigate large fire events. This includes: understanding the mechanisms

in large fires that control the gas phase combustion, burning rate, ther- mal and chemical emissions, and transport proceses; developing

techniques for computer simulation; developing field measurement

techniques to assess the near- and far-field impact of large fires and

their plumes; performing research on the use of combustion for envi- ronmental cleanup; predicting the performance and environmental

impact of fire protection measures and fire fighting systems and techniques; and developing and operating the Fire Research Program

large-scale experiment facility.

FIRE MODELING AND APPLICATIONS: Performs research,

develops, and demonstrates the application of analytical models for the quantitative prediction of the consequences of fires and the means

to assess the accuracy of those models. This includes: developing

methods to assess fire hazard and risk; creating advanced, usable models for the calculation of the effluent from building fires; modeling

the ignition and burning of furniture, contents, and building elements

such as walls; developing methods of evaluating and predicting the performance of building safety design features; developing a protocol

for determining the accuracy of algorithms and comprehensive models; developing data bases to facilitate use of fire models; and operating the Fire Research Information Service which serves as a central source of information for the fire community.

FIRE SENSING AND EXTINGUISHMENT GROUP:

Develops understanding, metrology, and predictive methods to enable

high-performance fire sensing and extinguishment systems; devises new approaches to minimizing the impact of unwanted fires and the suppression process which includes: research for the identification and in-situ measurement of the symptoms of pending and nascent

fires or explosions, and the consequences of suppression; devising or

adapting monitors for these variables and creating the intelligence for

timely interpretation of the data; determining mechanisms for deflagration and detonation suppression by advanced agents and principles

for their optimal use; modeling the extinguishment process; and devel- oping performance measures for the effectiveness of suppression sys- tem design.

MATERIALS FIRE RESEARCH GROUP: Perfomis research

to understand fundamentally the mechanisms that control the ignition, flame spread, and buming rate of materials and the chemical and

physical characteristics that affect these aspects of flammability;

develops methods of measuring and predicting the response of a

material to a fire which includes: characterizing the buming rates of

charring and non-charring polymers and composites; delineating and

modeling the enthalpy and mass transfer mechanisms of materials combustion; and developing computational molecular dynamics and

other mechanistic approaches to understand the relationships

between polymer structure and flammability.

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