NAT'L INST. OF STAND

& TECH R.I.C.

AlllOS M7b7Sl

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PUBUCATiOMS'

Nisr U.S. DEPARTMENT

OF COMMERCE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

William M. Daley, Secretary

Technology Administration Gary R.Bachula, Acting Undersecretary for Technology

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Raymond G. Kammer, Director

March 1998

Developed by Andrew J. Powell

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

Design Consultant: Susan Permut

NIST SP 838-14

for information only; it does not imply

recommendation or endorsement by NIST.
Table of Contents

3 Director's Foreword

5 Mission

5 Programmatic Thrusts

6 Selected Technical Accomplishments

6 High Performance Materials and Systems

1 4 Automation in Construction and Constructed Facilities

1 8 Loss Reduction

28 Awards and Staff Recognition

31 NSTC Subcommittee on Construction and Building

34 Domestic Activities

34 Outreach

34 Collaboration with Industry

Industry Consortia

Cooperative Research and Development Agreements

35 Codes and Standards

36 International Activities

36 Canada

36 Japan

39 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

39 Korea

39 Poland

39 Switzerland

40 Multilateral Activities

40 International Committee Participation

International Council for Building Research and Documentation

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

International Organization for Standardization

International Union of Testing and Research Laboratories for

Materials and Structures

42 Major Conferences, Seminars and Workshops

44 Finances

45 BFRL Organization

The Building and Fire Research Laboratory web site is

http://www.bfri.nist.gov

Technical Publications

Building and Fire Research Laboratory's 1996 publication abstracts are found in Publications 1996, NIST SP838-12. Full text, tables and figures are available on

2 CD-ROM's, NIST SP 914. Also, summaries of BFRL's research are available as 1997 Project Summaries, NIST SP 838-13. This material is available from BFRL's Office

of Cooperative Research Programs, National Institute of Standards and Technology,

Gaithersburg, MD 20899, Facsimile (301) 975-4737.

Left: The launch of STS-94 on 1 July 1997
1
Wein the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) are pleased to present to our clients and collaborators

this 1997 report of our activities, accomplishments and recognitions. As one of the National Institute of

Standards and Technology's Measurement and Standards Laboratories, we provide performance prediction

methods, measurement technologies and technical advances needed to assure the life cycle quality and economy of

constructed facilities. These include residences, commercial and institutional buildings, industrial facilities, public

works and utilities. We are enthusiastic about our work, conducted in close collaborations with industry, government

and academia, because of its importance to the productivity and competitiveness of all U.S. industry and everyone's

quality of life.

The thrusts of our program are high performance materials and systems, automation in construction and constructed

facilities and reduction of losses from fire and natural hazards. Examples of our principal accomplishments described

herein are:

• Developed with industry, understanding of mechanisms of and effectiveness measures for, a new generation of

silicon-based fire retardants (to provide environmentally friendly, fire-resistant products).

• Completed a model capable of the efficient computation of the fire environment in multistory buildings (for the

commercialization by industry of advanced fire modeling in computer aided design).

• Completed the draft international standard. Plant Spatial Configuration, to support automatic exchange of

information in the design, construction and use of process plants (an important export area for U.S. manufacturers,

designers and constructors and a good start for the wide application of automatic information exchange in the life cycle of constructed facilities in general).

• Developed a new simulation model for refrigeration cycle evaporators (to provide industry the basis for design of

heat pumps, air conditioners and refrigerators effectively using advanced, environmentally friendly refrigerants).

• Developed a three dimensional model for simulation of cement hydration and microstructure development in cement

paste (to provide the ability to design concrete for economical attainment of desired properties for placement, strength

and durability).

• Developed for standardization the modified compression field theory for the shear resistance of reinforced concrete

beams that use high strength concrete (to help preclude the occurrence of sudden, brittle shear failures which would

be fatal to the beneficial use of high strength concrete).

• Produced the beta test version of the methodology for assessing the life cycle economic and environmental

performance of building products (a rational and systematic approach for balancing economic and

environmental performance).

• Initiated the state, local and federal government and industry program Streamlining the Building Regulatory Process

(to address the great barrier to innovation and cost-effective construction provided by slow and redundant regulatory

reviews, but without reducing protection of public safety, environmental quality and property values).

This report gives further information on these and other accomplishments and sources for more detailed information.

Looking ahead to 1998, we are focusing the majority of our resources on six major products that appear to have early

benefits to the industry. They are:

• Partnership for High Performance Concrete Technology

• Performance Standards System for Housing

• Cybernetic Building Systems

• Computer Integrated Construction Environment

• Fire Safe Materials and Composites and

• Fire Safety Performance Evaluation System

We look forward to your inquiries and to our continued and strengthened collaborations.

Richard N. Wright

Director, BFRL
erforman

Automation

Advanced photodegredation device capable of exposing

polymeric materials to a liighly, spatially uniform

ultraviolet radiant flux.

uctio

Simulation of computer automation

at the construction site

Fire Test of interaction of sprinklers,

draft curtains and heat and smoke vents
Mission

The Laboratory's mission is to eniiance the 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 Thrusts

NISTs Building and Fire

Research Program

focuses on three dirusts:

High Performance Materials and

Systems for Constructed

Facilities, Automation in

Construction and Constructed

Facilities and Loss Reduction.

In addition, NIST is supporting

cooperative private and public

activities to streamline regtilatory

processes for constructed facilities and improve mechanisms for the

evaluation and acceptance of

innovative products and services.

Higli

in

Systems for

iliti

provides for U.S. leadership in

high performance materials and

systems for constructed facilities by developing performance

criteria and evaluation as well as 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 product-specific

standards do not exist. Attention

is given to life cycle performance

including fianctionality, 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.

provides for reduction of intolerable

U.S. losses of lives, property,

and production due to fires,

earthquakes, extreme winds,

explosions and ha2ardous materials

spiUs. This effort 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.
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

^

It is estimated

that increased

energy usage

due to moisture

is approximately

$150 million

dollars per year.

High Performance

Materials

and Systems for

il

1.1 MOIST 3.0

Douglas Burch of the Building Environment Division has completed and

released an enhanced version of MOIST, a personal computer program

that predicts the transfer of heat and moisture in walls, flat roofs and

cathedral ceilings. MOIST 3.0 represents a significant advancement over

the previous DOS based version. MOIST 3.0 utilizes an easy to use

graphical user interface that allows the user to construct virtual

building assemblies and quickly assess the resulting thermal and

moisture performance.

The program contains an extensive heat and moisture property database

for building materials and hourly weather data for 5 1 cities within the

United States and Canada. Unlike the previous version of MOIST,

MOIST 3.0 incorporates algorithms that predict the indoor relative

humidity of the building being analyzed rather than assuming a fixed

relative humidity. This capability is usefijl in determining if ventilation

strategies provide a means of achieving acceptable moisture performance.

The program is used by building practitioners to: 1) determine if vapor

retarders are needed in cold climates and if so where they should be

placed; 2) predicting surface relative humidity at the construction layers in

hot and humid climates, thereby determining the potential for mold and

mildew growth; 3) determine the drying rates for materials containing

original construction moisture; and 4) to investigate the moisture

performance of cold refrigeration storage rooms. Moisture analysis makes

it possible to design building constructions that perform with considerably

less moisture-induced material degradation.

It is estimated that increased energy usage due to moisture is approximately $150 million dollars per year. If through the use of

MOIST, moisture accumulation in 20 percent of the affected roofs and

walls was eliminated, an annual savings of $30 million per year would

result. Proper moisture analysis and construction would also decrease the

enormous expenditure of fiands required to replace moisture damaged

building materials and coatings as well as reduce the litigation associated

with moisture-related damage.

The previous DOS-based MOIST is being used by over 1 ,200 building

practitioners. It is anticipated that the new release will be in greater

demand due to its ease of use and enhanced analysis capabilities.

Contact: Dr. A. Hunter Fanney (301) 975-5864, MOIST@nist.gov

Mold and mildew as a result of poor moisture control
1.2 Ventilation and

Indoor Air Quality

Model

Andrew Persily of the Building

Environment Division has

developed the CONTAM

simulation program for multi-2xjne

airflow and indoor air quality

analysis. Poor indoor air quality is a major national problem based on

the impacts on health care expenses,

the costs associated with reduced

productivity of building occupants

and the impacts on the performance

of students in educational buildings.

The latest version of the CONTAM

program, CONTAM96, can perform airflow and contaminant

dispersal analysis on a wide variety

of complex multi-zone building

systems. The program employs an

element assembly approach to

describe a building as a series of

well-mixed zones connected by

airflow elements such as doorways

and mechanical ventilation system

airflows. Additional elements are used to describe contaminant

sources, sinks and air filters. The

most significant elements in

CONTAM96 are the inclusion of a

ventilation system model and the

ability to estimate occupant

exposure to airborne contaminants.

The program can be used on a PC-compatible system and can

analyze the performance of a

building for an entire year in only

a few minutes of run-time.

CONTAM96 will be used by

researchers and the design

community responsible for building

ventilation and airflow, such as smoke control system designers.

CONTAM96 is described in detail

in its user's manual, NISTIR 6056

CONTAM96 User Manual and is available at ftp.nist.gov under the

CONTAM directory.

Contact: Dr. Andrew Persily,

(301) 975-6418,

andrew.persily@nist.gov

Instrumented and unique test rig measures the local convective condensation heat transfer

coefficients of alternative refrigerants

1 .3 Convective

Condensation of I Alternative

Refrigerants

Mark Kedzierski and Joaquim

Goncalves developed correlations to

predict micro-fin tube condensation

heat-transfer coefficients and

pressure drops for ozone-safe

R22 alternative refrigerants. The

heat transfer and pressure drop

measurements were made in an

apparatus that was specially

designed for a wide variation in flow

parameters. The measured

convective condensation Nusselt

numbers for all of the test refrigerants were correlated to a

single expression of dimensionless

properties. The pressure drop

correlation is a modified form of a

well accepted pressure drop

correlation for smooth tubes. The

correlations provide the designer of

heat pump condensers with a simple means to size the alternative

refrigerant condenser for given duty

and pressure drop requirements.

Both the pressure drop and heat

transfer correlations are based on

the hydraulic diameter of the tube.

Consequendy, the correlation may

be successfiolly extrapolated to

predict the performance of microfin tubes with a variety of number

of fins and fin shapes.

CONTAM96,

can perform

airflow and

contaminant

dispersal

analysis on

a wide variety

of complex

multi-zone

building

systems.

Contact: Mr. Mark

Kedzierski, (301) 975-5282,

mark.kedzierski@nist.gov
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

J

Placing tape-bonded seam specimens in tlie cliamber prior to conducting a creep-rupture test

1.4 Predicting Service

Life of ChlorideExposed SteelReinforced Concrete

Dale Bentz, James Clifton and

Kenneth Snyder have developed a prototype computer-integrated

knowledge system (CIKS) for

predicting the service life of

steel-reinforced concrete exposed

to chloride ions, as in a concrete

bridge deck treated with de-icing

salt. Starting from the mixture

proportioning process, the system

proceeds to predict chloride

diffusivity coefficients and, finally, to predict the ingress profiles and

time to corrosion initiation for a

reinforced concrete exposed in a

specific environment. Apart from

its intrinsic value as a tool for

designers, the system demonstrates

the potential for disseminating

knowledge on specific topics in

concrete technology to the

construction industry through

the World Wide Web.

Contact: Dr. James Clifton,

(301) 975-6707,

james.clifton@nist.gov

1 .5 Evaluation of

New Technology

for Seams in

Elastomeric Roofing

Elastomeric roofing membranes

based on EPDM rubber have

excellent weather-resistance and are one of the main types of membrane

used on low-slope roofs. A critical

element of elastomeric roofing

membranes is the seams which are generally formed in the field. The

liquid-applied butyl adhesives which

have been extensively used in

forming EPDM roofing seams since

the mid-1980s have been successfial.

However, these adhesives contain a

large ftaction of volatile organic

solvents, which could be a problem

for the roofing industry if environmental regulations become

more restrictive. An alternative that

has been proposed is butyl tape

systems which contain lesser

amounts of solvent. To evaluate the

reliability of adhesive joints made

with tape systems, a NIST-led

consortium of individual companies

and two trade associations has been

smdying the tape adhesives for two

years. The statistically-designed

experiments have investigated the

times-to-failure of seams imder

various loads and under various

envirormiental conditions. The

results to date suggest that seams made with tape adhesives perform

at least as well as those made

with liquid-applied butyl adhesives

and that they may be considered a

viable alternative.

Contact: Dr. Walter Rossiter,

(301) 975-6719,

walter.rossiter@nist.gov

1 .6 Knowledge System

for Protective

Coatings for Steel

Organic coatings provide a versatile,

cost-effective means for protecting

steel strucmres against adverse

environmental conditions, but

decisions about coating system

selection are often difficult to make.

Currendy, users of coating systems

must rely on information presented

in many different forms. These

include manuals, guides,

photographs and drawings, videos,

databases and other sources. In

addition, a human experts advice

may be needed to reach a decision, or the needed knowledge may

not be accessible. To provide a comprehensive, easily-accessible source of reliable information,

BFRL has worked with the SSPC

(formerly the Steel Structures

Painting Coimcil and now renamed

the Society for Protective Coatings)

to develop the Coatings Expert
REAL

Advisory system, COEX-I, which

contains some of NIST's coatings

data, together with much data from

other sources. The COEX-I system

was well-accepted by the coatings

community and an improved

version, COEX-II, has been

developed to provide an even better

advisory system.

Contact: Dr. Jonathan Martin,

(301) 975-6717,

jonathan.martin@nist.gov

1.7 Electronic Monograph

on the Structure and

Properties of

Concrete and Other

Cement-Based

IMlaterials

BFRL was a pioneer in the

computational materials science of

concrete and is one of the worlds

main centers for this new field. Edward Garboczi and Dale Bentz,

with collaborators from several

other laboratories, have developed

models of microstructure and

properties on all length scales of

interest. These have been linked

together to give overall predictions

for concrete properties as a function

of mixture design, curing and

environmental exposure. As part of

the development of a computerintegrated knowledge system

(CIKS) for building materials, a monograph. An Electronic

Monograph: Modeling the Structure

and Properties ofCement-Based

Materials (available at URL:

http:\\ciks.cbt.nist.gov\garboczi),

has been developed to summarize

and make available the current

state of knowledge of the

computational materials science

and engineering of concrete.

Comparison of model and experimental

images of concrete microstructure

at different length scales

Contact: Dr. Edward Garboczi,

(301) 975-6708,

edward.garboczi@nist.gov
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

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Bridge Database

Bridge

BridgeLCC calculates the lile-cycle costs of bridges built from competing alternative materials

1.8 Economic software

for Assessing tiie

Life-Cycle Costs of

Higfi-Performance

Bridge ly/lateriais

Mark Ehlen, an engineer in BFRli

Office ofApplied Economics, has

completed the alpha version of

BridgeLCC, user-friendly

^Windows-based software for

evaluating the life-cycle costs of

highway bridges. Based on an economic model developed by

Ehlen and Harold Marshall,

BridgeLCC is specifically designed

to analyze the life-cycle costs of

new construction materials such

as high-performance concrete,

high-performance steel and

fiber-reinforced-polymer

composites. The software includes a BFRL-developed concrete service

life tool, a Monte Carlo module for

analyzing uncertain costs and a standard bridge elemental

classification under joint

development by BFPIL and

industry. Ehlen is working with the

Federal Highway Administration to

implement the beta version at state departments of transportation,

giving them an evaluation tool to

help them reduce the life-cycle costs of building and repairing

bridges by using new,

higher-performance materials.

Contact: Dr. Mark A. Ehlen,

(301) 975-4522,

mark.ehlen@nist.gov
Concrete

Reference

Laboratory

has initiated

three new

proficiency

sample

programs for

masonry

materials

1.9 Kew Proficiency

Sample Programs for

ly/iasonry Materials

BFRIi ASTM-sponsored Cement

and Concrete Reference Laboratory

(CCRL) has initiated three new

proficiency sample programs for

masonry materials in consultation

with ASTM Committees C1 2 on

Mortars for Unit Masonry and C15

on Manufactured Masonry Units.

The programs were developed in

consultation with the National

Concrete Masonry Association and

the Brick Institute ofAmerica. These

programs include a Masonry Mortar

Program based on ASTM C270, a Concrete Masonry Unit Program

based on ASTM CI40 and a Facing Brick Program based on

ASTM C67. They are in addition

to existing CCRL Proficiency

Sample Programs for pordand

cement, pordand cement concrete,

blended cement, masonry cement

and pozzolans.

Contact: Mr. James Pielert,

(301) 975-6704,

james.pielert@nist.gov

Materials handling equipment used to prepare CMRL prvficiMcy samfies
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

J

1.10 ASTM ISR Reference

Soils Project

BFRL's AASHTO Materials

Reference Laboratory (AMRL)

sponsored by the American

Association of State Highway

and Transportation Officials

(AASHTO) is supporting the

ASTM Institute of Standards

Research Reference (ISR) Soils

and Testing Program. The purpose

of this program is to prepare

precision statements for 1 3 ASTM

test methods and have a stockpile

of four soil types to benefit the

engineering community. The

soil samples can be used by

laboratory accreditation systems,

quality control and quality assurance activities and standards

development. AMRL has processed

more than 41,000 kg of the four

soil types into samples ready for

shipment to laboratories, provided

statistical support in conjunction

with the NIST Information

Technology Laboratory and

participated on the project

management team.

Contact: Mr. James Pielert,

(301) 975-6704,

james.pielert@nist.gov

1.11 Implementation

of Strategic Highway

Research Program

Technology

AMRL is continuing to support

implementation of results from

the Strategic Highway Research

Program (SHRP). AMRL

has assisted the AASHTO

Subcommittee on Materials in

drafting and processing more than

60 provisional standards based on

SHRP technology. AMRL has

added SHRP performance graded

binder and hot-mixed asphalt

samples to its Proficiency Sample

Program and inspects laboratories

who perform related test methods as part of its Laboratory Inspection

Program. AMRL is also supporting

SHRP implementation through its technical support of the AASHTO

Accreditation Program. Private

industry laboratories testing asphalt

binders are required to be accredited

by the year 2000. Haleem Tahir

is serving on five National

Cooperative Highway Research

Program panels that gtiide the

follow-on research on SHRP

technology dealing with aggregates

and asphalt mix design. He also

helped develop the concept of the

AASHTO Lead States Program,

which was developed to ensure that

practical, real world experience is gained in the early application of

SHRP technology. This program

has been instituted and is considered to be a most successfial

program in technology transfer.

Contact: Mr. James Pielert,

(301) 975-6704,

james.pielert@nist.gov
Recent studies

have revealed

that HSC

possesses some

undesirable

performance

characteristics

when subjected

to elevated

temperatures

1.12 Fire Performance

of High-Strength

Concrete

High-Strength Concrete (HSC) is presently being used more and more

for structural applications owing to

its many advantages over normal

strength concrete (NSC) and its easy availability nowadays at many

concrete plants. However, recent

studies have revealed that HSC

possesses some undesirable

performance characteristics when

subjected to elevated temperatures.

These include significandy shorter

fire endurance time compared with

NSC, markedly higher losses in

mechanical properties and more

importandy, high susceptibility to

sudden explosive spaUing at temperamres in the 300° to 6500°C

range. These difFerences have design

consequences and give rise to the

question ofwhether the existing

U.S. fire design provisions, which

were developed using data from

high temperature testing of NSC,

are applicable when HSC is used.

In response to these technical

challenges, BFRL initiated an

effort to address the above fire performance issues with aims to

accurately predict the behavior of

fire-exposed HSC structures and to

mitigate HSC s undesirable fire performance characteristics. Early

results of this ongoing effort include

the publication of a systematic

review of relevant technical data

that established the current baseline

knowledge concerning the fire performance of HSC and identified

technical issues in need of research.

Also published were the proceedings

of the International Workshop on

Fire Performance of HSC in which

experts in this field from various

laboratories and agencies worldwide

participated. The results of this

smdy will provide the needed

solutions to the critical issues

concerning the fire performance of

HSC, thus promoting safe and

increased use of HSC in the

construction industry.

Contact: Dr. Long Phan,

(301) 975-6077,

long.phan @nist.gov
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

The intended

impact is lowered

building-related

contributions to

environmental

problems at

minimum cost

Automation in

Construction and

Constructed

iiiti

2.1 BEES

Under Barbara Lippiatt, of the BFRL Office ofApplied Economics, die

BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) project

has developed a powerful technique for balancing the environmental and

economic performance of building products. Implemented in Windows-based

decision support software aimed at designers, builders and product

manufacttirers, the tool includes actual environmental and economic

performance data for a number of building products. After incorporating

comments received during a 1 997 beta test by over 1 25 reviewers worldwide,

the first version of the tool, BEES 1.0, will be published in January 1998.

The intended impact is lowered building-related contributions to

environmental problems at minimum cost.

BEES measures the environmental performance of buUding products using

the environmental life-cycle assessment approach specified in the latest versions

of ISO 14000 draft standards. The approach analyzes all stages in the life of a product, including raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation,

installation, use and recycling and waste management. Economic performance

is measured using the ASTM standard life-cycle cost method. The technique

includes the costs over a given study period of initial investment, replacement,

operation, maintenance and repair and disposal. Environmental and economic

performance are combined into an overall performance measure using the

ASTM standard for Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis.

Overall Performance Results ass roi ffi

Overall Performance

c

Q.

I Overall

I Environmental

Product A

Product B

i <I1
The BEES methodology is being

refined and expanded over the next

three years under sponsorship of the

EPA Environmentally Preferable

Purchasing (EPP) Program. The

EPP program is charged with

carrying out Executive Order

12873, "Federal Acquisition,

Recycling and Waste Prevention,"

which directs Executive agencies to

reduce the environmental burdens

associated with the $200 biUion in

products and services they purchase

each year, including building

products. BEES is being further

developed as a tool to assist all Federal procurement agents in

carrying out the mandate of

Executive Order 12873.

For each alternative product, the

BEES software computes an

environmental performance score (based on a synthesis of scores for

six environmental attributes) and

an economic performance score (based on life-cycle costs). The

environmental and economic

performance scores are then

combined into an overall

performance score based on

importance weights for

environmental versus economic

performance entered by the user.

Contact: Ms. Barbara Lippiatt,

(301) 975-6133,

barbara.lippiatt@nist.gov

2.2 International

Standard for

Exchanging Plant

Engineering

Information

The Computer Integrated

Construction Group is working

with industry to deliver effective

data exchange standards to advance

the international competitiveness of

U.S. engineering, construction,

process and CAD/CAE industries.

^'^'^i PkmtSJEP

PlantSTEP brochure

In the international world of

process plant design, construction

and operation, the rapid and

accurate exchange of technical

information among owners,

designers, equipment suppliers,

fabricators and others is critical. Incompatible data exchange

formats can lock corporations out of

profitable national and international

process plant projects.

Working with PlantSTEP, Inc.

(see page 34) and other leaders

from the process plant industries,

the CIC Group completed the

Draft International Standard,

ISO 10303-227: Plant Spatial

Configuration. This standard,

commonly referred to as STEP

Application Protocol 227, will

enable the automatic exchange of

plant engineering information,

including 3E) models of plants

and the detailed engineering

of piping systems.

In parallel with developing the

standard, the CIC Group provided

an experimental testbed for assessing

prototype implementations of the

draft standard. During 1 997,

demonstrations ofAP 227

implementations were conducted at international conferences in

Houston and Tokyo. These

demonstrations were the first examples of exchanging complex

plant models among all of the

major plant design software

packages using a neutral,

international standard. The Draft

International Standard of STEP

AP 227 is out for international

ballot and approval by the members

of ISO. Industry is beginning to

include the use ofAP 227 for new

process plant engineering contracts.

This standard is an important step

for the wide application of

automatic information exchange

in the life cycle of constructed

facilities in general.

Contact: Mr. Mark Palmer,

(301) 975-5858,

mark.palmer@nist.gov

This standard

is an important

step for tiie

wide application

of automatic

information

exchange in

the life cycle

of constructed

facilities

in general
Selected Technical

Accomplishments,

Preliminary

demonstrations liave

been made to

industry participants

showing the ability

to tracic a full-scale

30-ton bridge crane

(one component of

NCAT)andthe

components it is

maneuvering in 3D

in real-time and to

display the status of the

job site to a remote

management center

2.3 Visual Test Shell

for BACnetP

Visual Test Shell (VTS), a software

tool developed by NIST for testing

building control products for

conformance to ASHRAE Standard

135-1995, BACnet, was released in

1 996. BACnet is a communication

protocol standard that enables the

interconnection of building control

products made by different

manufacturers. This standard

creates the opportunity for

building owners to bid control

system projects competitively and to

integrate traditionally stand-alone

building services such as energy

management, fire detection, security

and building transportation. It will

also play an important role in

interactions between building

control systems and a deregulated

utility industry. VTS is now being

used by manufacturers who are developing BACnet products. The

testing procedures implemented in

VTS have become the basis for a

draft addendum to the BACnet

standard that defines a conformance

test suite. VTS will continue to

develop as the standardization

process proceeds. The goal is for

VTS to become the tool used to

implement an industry-run

certification program for BACnet

products.

The emergence of building control

products that utilize the BACnet

protocol has significandy increased

the interest in BACnet outside of

the United States. BACnet has

been adopted as a pre-standard in

the European Community

(ENV 1805-1) and has been

adopted as the working draft: for an ISO standard by ISO/TC 205/WG

3 Building Control System Design.

BACnet has been included in the

specifications for the new German

Parliament complex at the

Reichstag in Berlin. The Reichstag

project is one of the most high

profile construction projects in

Europe today. There are now at

least 2,500 BACnet systems

installed worldwide and they can be

found in at least 14 countries.

Contact: Dr. Steven Bushby

(301) 975-5873,

steven.bushby@nist.gov

2.4 NIST National

Construction

Automation Testbed:

Developing Interface

Data Standards

for Real-Time

Construction Site

Metrology

An exciting collaborative effort is under way between the Building

and Fire Research Laboratory

(BFRL), the Manufacturing

Engineering Laboratory (MEL) and

the U.S. construction industry to

develop the information

infrastructure that will lead,

ultimately, to the general use of

automated metrology systems and

semi-automated machinery on the

average construction job site. A multi-disciplinary team has been

formed within NIST, drawing

expertise in the fields of CAD/CAE

information systems and data

exchange standards, real-time

construction site metrology; wireless

data telemetry; VR world modeling;

and intelligent systems design. The

first product of this collaboration,

the National Construction

Automation Testbed (NCAT) is "tinder construction" at NIST for

test and validation of proposed

open architecture data exchange and

protocol standards; real-time

construction site metrology

techniques, including seamless

hand-off between metrology

systems; and the development of

standard component identification

protocols for barcode, smart chip

and RFID tags. Preliminary

demonstrations have been made to

industry participants showing the

ability to track a flill-scale 30-ton

bridge crane (one component of

NCAT) and the components it is maneuvering in 3D in real-time and

to display the stattis of the job site to a remote management center

(the National Advanced

Manufacttiring Testbed laboratory.
approximately 600 m distant from

NCAT). There, a 3D construction

simulation system has been

developed to display a virtual replica

of the construction site that not

only recognizes the actual, instant,

changes taking place in the crane

position, but also in the location

and orientation of the components

it is moving. The NCAT team

hopes to demonstrate within the

following two years the seamless

tracking of the delivery of a

semi-tractor trailer load of process

plant components to the parking

lot adjacent NCAT; the automatic

unloading of that cargo using an

instrumented fork truck; and the

delivery of the components to the crane for automated assembly of

the process plant sub-unit. All of

this wiU take place under the

umbrella of four different

positioning systems — GPS, an

internal Pseudolite range; fanning

laser systems; and traditional total

stations. The system is being

designed to determine automatically

which metrology system supplies

the strongest, most recent signal

with the least error as machines and

components move about the site.

It will then automatically shift

control to the appropriate system

when, for example, the fork truck

enters the NCAT facility and loses

GPS satellite contact but picks up a fanning laser lock. It is anticipated

that this approach will revolutionize

component tracking and placement

on construction sites.

Contact: Dr. William Stone,

(301) 975-6075,

william.stone@nist.gov

2.S Improved

Variable-Air-Volume

Air-Handling

Unit Control

BFRL staff have participated in

two separate "annexes" of the

International Energy Agency where

researchers from several countries

have collaborated to develop and

implement methods to detect and

diagnose faults in Heating,

Ventilating and Air Conditioning

Systems (HVAC). The staff made

a significant improvement in

control technology for one

specific application as a result

of this participation.

Outdoor air entering an

air-handling unit through the

exhaust air outlet has the potential

to adversely affect indoor air quality

if the exhaust air oudet is located near a pollution source, such as a truck loading dock. Engineers

George Kelly and John Hotise were instrumental in the discovery

and analysis of conditions that can

lead to this phenomenon in

variable-air-volume air-handling

units. Subsequent research on the

problem was performed under a CRADA with Johnson Controls,

Inc. and led to the development of

a new damper control system that

helps alleviate the problem.

The reverse airflow problem has

been observed and studied in

variable-air-volume air-handling

units that control the return fan to

maintain a constant volumetric flow

difference between the supply and

return airflow rates. In such systems,

dampers in the outdoor, return and

exhaust air ducts are traditionally

controlled such that as the return air

damper opens, the outdoor and

exhaust air dampers close. The

reverse airflow phenomenon has

typically been observed when the

exhaust and outdoor air dampers

are less than 30% open. The new

damper control system is identical

to the traditional control system

except that the outdoor air damper

is set to 1 00% open during periods

when a building is occupied.

Simulations, laboratory experiments

and field tests at the Iowa Energy

Center, Energy Resource Station

have demonstrated that the new

control system will reduce the range

of conditions for which the reverse airflow problem occurs. The new

damper control system represents a

straightforward solution to a problem with potentially serious

health effects.

Contacts: Dr. George E. Kelly,

(301) 975-5870,

george.kelly@nist.gov

Dr. John M. House,

(301) 975-5874,

john.house@nist.gov

AIR HANDLING UNIT B

OA DAMPER CONTRDL MODE

OAMN KSP 30.0 %ODA

OACFMSP 100 CFM

CALCRFCFMSETPOINT 2608

OCCUPIED YES

EA-OMPR 30.0%OPEN

RF CONTROL MODE CFM

Rf=%OFSF 80.0% RFCFMLAQSP eOOCFM

RA-FLOW 2610 CFM

RA-Te*> 68.6 Deo F

SA-FLOW 32Z2CFM

SA-TOIP 659 Deg F SA-TEMPSP 550

SA

ENERGY USAGE

HT04TUS 0. BTU/HR

CUSEWr

cucw-wr

CUG-VLV CHWFLCW

CHW*»4/VATTS Cm/PSST

ENERGY USAGE

cijseTus a btu/hr

6Z6 0egF

6Z4DegF

100.0 %OPEN

29.0 GPM

394 WATTS

START

Schematic of air-handling unit at the Iowa Energy Center used for testing new control system
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

Transmission electron micrograph

of char from combustion of nylon-6 silicate nanocomposite

Loss Reduction

3.1 New Class of Fire Retardants

As materials evolve to a higher degree of functionality and safety, new types of

formulations are needed to meet fire safety standards. BFRL scientists Jeffrey

Gilman and Takashi Kashiwagi, working with Emmanual Giannelis of

Cornell University, have been examining novel materials formed by reacting a host organic resin with special fine clay particles. At low clay additions (tmder

1 0% by mass) a polymer layered silicate nanocomposite is formed. The team

has shown that these materials also offer a new means for achieving a high

degree of fire retardancy. Prior NIST research has shown that the rate of heat

release during a fire is the principal property controlling fire growth and thus

fire loss. Reacting nylon-6 with only 5% of this clay results in a product whose

peak rate of heat release is reduced by a factor of 3- The mechanism that results

in this significant improvement in fire safety is different firom that in simple

mixtures and is leading to approaches for other resins. The results have

attracted international attention and a consortium of U.S. polymer and

polymer product manufacturers is being formed to accelerate this technology.

Contact: Dr. Jeffrey GUman, (301) 975-6573, jeffrey.gilman@nist.gov

3.2 Suppression of Electrical Fires

A fire in a telecommunications facility can have such a severe impact on service

that it is important to effect fire suppression while keeping the equipment

fimctioning. For years, halon 1301 (CF3 Br) has been the chemical agent

used to accomplish this. However, this chemical is a significant depleter of

stratospheric ozone, with international restrictions on its production and use. Working with the 3M Company, William Grosshandler and Emil Braun are determining the fire suppressant criteria for controlling fires in energized

electrical equipment. Current standards presume that the needed concentration

of fire suppressant will be the same as for non-electrical fires. Tests by 3M had

shown that as much as twice the agent may be needed. BFRL staffs have now

conducted a series of tests to measure analogous ratios for suppressing and

preventing re-ignition of the radiation-enhanced burning of a rod of solid fijel.

The required concentrations of two inert gases and four halocarbon agents were

Dr. William Grosshandler, Leader,

Fire Sensing and Extinguishment Group,

is developing a new test method in cooperation with 3IVI to quantify the impact

of the radiant flux from an electrical heater

(seen as the truncated cone) on the

minimum concentration of a gaseous

agent necessary to extinguish a burning

plastic specimen.
Pre-fire detection

systems for

range-top cooking

are feasible

witliout undue

disruption of

attended cooicing

measured as the radiant flux on

the sample was increased up to

40 kW/m-^. Test showed that

increasing surface temperatures

lead to a need for an increased

amount of agent to avoid ignition

of premixed gasified fuel and air

and that even modest radiant

fluxes can double the amoimt

of agent required to control a burning plastic.

Contact: Dr. William E.

Grosshandler,

(301) 975-2310,

william.grosshandler@nist.gov

3.3 Combustion

Mechanisms of

Silicone Fires

Polydimethylsiloxanes, or silicones,

burn difiFerendy and less vigorously

than ordinary hydrocarbons. For

over three years, BFRL researchers,

led by Takashi Kashiwagi, have

worked with Robert Buch of Dow

Corning to tmravel the basis for

this behavior. The knowledge

could lead to a new generation

of fire-resistant products. Perhaps

the most important aspect of this

burning is the process by which

the liquid polymer produces

combustible vapor. The team has

simulated the exposures to fires of

different sizes by exposing samples

of the silicone fluids to radiant

fluxes of 20 kW/m2 to 70 kW/m^.

The fluids, siloxane polymers of

different chain length, had

viscosities from 0.65 cS to 60,000

cS. The measurements included mass loss rates, fluid temperatures,

trapped volatile products and fluid

residues, all measured throughout

the gasificationprocess. A detailed

energy balance was conducted to

determine the global heat of

vaporization including absorption of

incident (flame) radiation by the

volatile products, reradiation losses

from the heated fluids and heat

losses to the substrate. The

gasification of the siloxanes was

found to occur via two modes:

(1) volatilization of molecular

species native to the polymer and

Foam-like residue of silicone with 1% silica

after SOkW/m^ exposure in a nitrogen

atmosphere

(2) volatilization of cyclic molecules

that result fi-om thermally induced

degradation of the polymer via

siloxane bond rearrangement. The

former process dominates for low

molecular weight sUoxanes (< 1 0 cS)

and the latter for high molecular

weight compounds (> 1,000 cS).

Contact: Dr. Takashi BCashiwagi,

(301) 975-6699,

takashi.kashiwagi@nist.gov

3.4 Cooicing the Food

but not the House

A significant portion of residential

fires begin at the kitchen stove, most

often arising from unattended

cooking and being oil or grease-fed.

Ideally, many of these fires could be

avoided if the stovetop "knew" a fire was pending and turned itself off. It

is recognized that there are indicators

of impending ignition for several

foods being cooked on range

surfaces: elevated temperatures

and emission of smoke particulates

and hydrocarbon gases. However,

their reliability in sensing all fires and their discrimination against

non-fires has not been determined.

Rik Johnsson, working under the

sponsorship of the Consumer

Product Safety Commission

(CPSC), investigated the feasibility

of a pre-ignition detection device

sensing one or more of these

environment characteristics. He

conducted experiments using typical

ranges and food types, making a

variety of measurements: smoke

particulates, carbon monoxide,

carbon dioxide and total organic

vapors, as well as temperatures near

the food and in the vicinity of the

range and range hood. While no

single sensor performed faultlessly

in recognizing all the pending fires without false alarming, logically

combined signals with simple pairs

of sensors were effective. Thus,

pre-fire detection systems for

range-top cooking are feasible

without undue disruption of

attended cooking. The CPSC will

include this key finding in their

overall evaluation of approaches to

ameliorating this fire problem.

Contact: Mr. Erik Johnsson,

(301) 975-3083,

erik.johnsson@nist.gov

Range-top fire
Selected Technical i Accomplishments i J

3.5 Fire in Space

Gregory Linteris, NIST s first astronaut, has completed two

flights as a payload specialist on the

Space Shuttle Columbia. STS-83

was the first Microgravity Science

Laboratory mission. Launched in

April 1 997, its goal was to focus on

materials and combustion research

in microgravity. The mission was

curtailed after only a few days due

to mechanical problems with the

spacecraft. However, on July 1

,

1 997, Dr. Linteris and the rest of

the STS-83 crew were latmched

into space as part of mission

STS-94 to complete the

experimentation considered vital

by NASA management.

The results exceeded everyone's

expectations, providing

fundamental new knowledge in

the scientific fields of combustion,

biotechnology and materials

processing. More than 200 fires, or combustion experiment runs were conducted on MSL- 1 . A study of

the phenomena of soot resulted in

discovery of a new mechanism of

flame extinction caused by radiation

of soot. Scientists found that the

flames emit soot sooner than

expected. These findings have

direct impact on the theories

predicting the formation of soot, a major factor as a pollutant and in

the spread of tmwanted fires.

A second combustion study on

spherical flame structures or

flameballs, resulted in the weakest

flames ever burned either in space or on Earth and the longest ever

ignited in space. This provides

new information for models of

weak combustion processes

needed to develop cleaner, more

fliel-efficient internal combustion

engines. In a third combustion

study, individual and paired droplets

of fuel were ignited and information

collected on the burn rates, flame

shape and radiation emitted. The

resulting information will improve

theoretical models of combustion of

atomized fuels, such as experienced

in engines and spray fires.

Contact: Dr: Gregory Linteris,

(301) 975-2283,

linteris@cfr 1 6.cfr.nist.gov

Dr. Gregory Linteris, mechanical engineer and NASA payload specialist is performing materials and combustion science research in the orbiting

STS-94 Microgravity Space Science Laboratory
Damaged port facilities in Kobe, Japan caused

3.6 Methods for

Predicting

Liquefaction

Potential

Liquefaction of loosely deposited

granular soils is a major cause of

damage in earthquakes. With the

technical input of experts from the

private and public sectors who

participated in a January 1 996

workshop sponsored by the

National Center for Earthquake

Engineering Research (NCEER)

and in collaboration with the

University ofTexas at Austin, BFRL

has made significant improvements

to the methods for predicting

liquefaction potential using shear

wave velocity. The improvements,

which are summarized in a report of

the workshop, are based on field

performance data from 20 different

earthquakes and in-situ measure- ments of shear wave velocity at 50

sites. One advantage of using shear ' wave velocity is measurements are possible in soils that are hard to

sample, such as gravely soils and at

sites where borings may not be

permitted, such as capped landfills.

To further improve the accuracy of

the methods and establish

guidelines for their use, additional

case histories will be compiled and a probabUisdc analysis will be

performed on the expanded

database in fiscal year 1998.

Contact: Dr. Ronald Andrus,

(301) 975-6051,

ronald.andrus@nist.gov

by iiquifaction

3.7 Welded Steel Moment

Frame (WSMF) Buildings

Studies

Many welded steel buildings have

been built in recent years to take

advantage of the ductility of steel

when subject to earthquake

ground shaking. However, postearthquake investigations following

the 1994 Northridge earthquake

revealed many unsuspected failures

ofwelded joints in over 100 welded

steel moment frames (WMSF)

buildings. Similar damage was

also observed in the 1995 Kobe

earthquake. BFRL has been

carrying out a multi-year

comprehensive research program

for the development of methods

for repair and retrofit of steel

frame buildings. In this effort,

BFRL is closely coordinating with

die SAC (SEAOC, ATC and

CUREe) program.

Working with practicing engineers

and university researchers in the

past three years, BFRL carried out

both analytical and experimental

studies. The program has produced

the following early products: the

proceedings of a workshop on the

seismic performance of steel frame

buildings during the Northridge

earthquake; the results of a detailed

survey of WSMF buildings

damaged in the Northridge

earthquake; a report on the analysis

and characterization of actual

failed section of beam-column

connections from buildings

damaged in the Northridge

earthquake; the results of derailed

investigation and analysis of two

steel frame buildings which

suffered extensive damage in the

same earthquake; a report on the

development of computer models

for analyzing WSMF buildings;

and the test results of large-scale

testing of retrofitted steel

moment confections.

Findings from these experimental

studies, combined with results

from the SAC program, are being

used in the development of

guidelines for the modifications

of existing WSMF buildings to

improve their seismic performance.

This effort is being carried out

jointly with the American Institute

of Steel Construction.

Contact: Dr. John Gross,

(301) 975-6068,

john.gross@nist.gov

Experimental investigation of welded haunched retrofit
Selected Technical

j Accomplishments I

Damaged Interior of the Albertsons store in Williamson County, Central Texas

after being hit by the F-3 Cedar Park Tornado

3»8 BFRL Survey of

Damage Due to the

May 27, 1997, Central

Texas Tornadoes

On May 27, 1997, a system of

severe thunderstorms developed in the

afternoon hours over Central Texas

and moved southwesterly across this

region. A series of tornadoes were spawned from this system and caused

a significant number of deaths (28)

and extensive damage to properties in

four Central Texas counties (more than

280 homes and commercial buildings

destroyed) . The most deadly tornado,

which was designated as an F-5 on

the Fujita scale following the early

damage survey, was the one that

struck Jarrell, located between

Waco and Austin, Texas.

Under the coordination of the

Office of the Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and Supporting

Research (OFCM), members of BFRL

and the National Weather Service

(NWS) jointly conducted ground

and aerial surveys to document the

1

tornadoes' ground tracks,

including estimates of their

lengths and widths and the

associated structural damage.

Like many tornadoes in the past,

the intensities of the Central Texas i tornadoes were estimated and j reported by comparing the physical

damage to structures and objects

in the affected region with the

descriptive damage oudined by the

F-scale. Since the F-scale also i provides a range ofwind speed

for each intensity scale, inaccurate

assignment of an F-scale could

| result in over- or underestimation

of the tornado rotational wind

speed. This in turn, could have a

significant impact in the design

profession. The observed structural i damage documented by the NIST- } NWS damage survey team provided i a unique opportunity for comparing

probable wind speed with that ! associated with the F-scale.

Contact: Dr. Long Phan, \ (301) 975-6077, I long.phan @nist.gov

I

:
3.9 BFRL Industrial Fire

Simulation (IFS)

Computer Model

Used to Plan Large

Scale Fire Tests

The National Fire Protection

Research Foundation assembled

eight interested industrial partners

to support the evaluation of the

BFRL Industrial Fire Simulation

(IFS) model. The problem being

investigated was the interaction of

sprinkler, draft curtains and heat

and smoke vents in industrial

storage facility fires. Data from the

tests, which included five fijll scale

high piled commodity and 32

controlled heat release rate gas fire

tests, provided additional data to

complement previous testing and

evaluation data for the model. Each

of the tests was planned with the

benefit of insight from model

calculations so that maximum

benefit could be gained from the

limited testing budget available for

these studies. The model was

improved based on findings from

the tests. It was successful in

predicting acmation times of

multiple sprinklers produced by the

controlled gas fires. The model was

less successfial in predicting the

details of the commodity tests that were unfortunately not wholly

repeatable in themselves. The data

and model results from this smdy

should help to determine the

conditions under which vents and

draft curtains are beneficial and

under what conditions they are detrimental to the performance of

fire sprinkler systems. To assist

industry in this effort, Kevin

McGrattan has provided

simulations of the fijll scale high

piled storage fires used to evaluate

the performance of the fire protection systems installed in the

Underwriters Laboratories test

facility in Northbrook, Illinois.

The high resolution IFS model

utilizes large eddy simulation

technology to provide prediction of

fire driven gas flows in the facility.

Supporting sub-models, developed

by Glenn Forney for sprinkler

sprays, Anthony Hamins for

burning boxes and industry

standard models for thermal

response of sprinklers and vents are integrated with the gas phase

calculations to produce a fixU test simulation. Results can be studied

as graphical presentations of selected

quantities or as fiall motion video

simulations of the tests constructed

from the predictions.

Contact: Dr. David D. Evans,

(301) 975-6863,

dave.evans@nist.gov

Computer simulation of industrial storage facility fire.
Selected Technical

Accomplishments

. ^ J

In real world

situations, these

high performance

materials help

slow the spread

of fire, allowing

more time for

passengers to

safely leave a

burning train car.

3.10 Fire Hazard

Analysis for Trains

Wlien a fire starts in an enclosed

space, like a passenger train

compartment, time for evacuation is of the essence. Everything about the

design of the compartment — from

the materials used for curtains, seats and carpets to the number of exits

and the width of aisles — determines

whether passengers will have enough

time to exit a train car safely. As part

of a three-year study of passenger

train fire safety requirements for the

Federal Railroad Administration

(under the direction of the Volpe

National Transportation Systems

Center), Richard Peacock conducted

frill-scale tests in the BFRL largescale fire research facility. Using bags

of trash collected from in service

trains, NIST researchers measured

heat release rates to better

understand the behavior of realistic

fires. Peacock and his colleagues used

these measurements wdth computer

models to simulate how fires might

spread in actual trains. Because these

simulations take materials

interactions and the size and

arrangement of railway cars into

account, they can often produce

more realistic predictions of fire spread than materials testing alone.

Even when exposed to very intense,

direct flames, the train seats in the

test charred rather than igniting

and feeding the fire. In real world

simations, these high performance

materials help slow the spread

of fire, allowing more time for

passengers to safely leave a burning train car.

Contact: Mr. Richard Peacock,

(301) 975-6664,

richard.peacock@nist.gov

Fire protection engineer David Stroup explores the use of an infrared camera to determine

details of fire spread and burning of the trash fire set near train seats
Fire test on oil spill containment boom

Presently

there is

no standard

method for

evaluating the

performance of

fire-resistant

oil spill

containment

booms when

subjected to

both fire

and waves

3.1 1 Development of a

Method for the

Evaluation of FireResistant Oil Spill

Containment Boom

Intentional burning is emerging

as one of the accepted methods

of mitigating oil spills at sea, particularly in remote areas. Intentional burning requires

that a portion of the oil spill be

corralled in a fire-resistant oil spill

containment boom to control

the burn. Presently there is no

standard method for evaluating

the performance of fire-resistant oil

spill containment booms when

subjected to both fire and waves. Under sponsorship of the U.S.

Coast Guard and the Minerals

Management Service of the U.S.

Department of Interior, researchers,

led by William Walton, in the Fire

Safety Engineering Division have

designed a wave tank capable of

evaluating a 1 5 m section of boom

by subjecting it to a 5 m diameter

fire with 0.3 m high waves. The unique wave tank was

constructed at the U.S. Coast

Guard Fire and Safety Test

Detachment in Alabama, ^^alton's

team has developed a draft test protocol based on guidelines from

the ASTM (American Society for

Testing and Materials) committee

responsible for oil spills. The team

evaluated the protocol using five

typical fire-resistant oil spill

containment booms selected by the

sponsors. The evaluation was a

success; however, a few areas in need

of refinement were identified.

Although pass-fail criteria have not

been finalized, the fire-resistant

boom manufacturers were able to

gain insight into the performance of

their products under realistic

conditions. The results of the

evaluation will be presented to the

ASTM committee responsible for

oil spills.

Contact: Mr. William D. Walton,

(301) 975-6872,

william.walton@nist.gov
I

Selected Technical | Accomplishments I J

3.12 Protecting

Fire Figiiters

Over the past 20 years the

protective clothing worn by

firefighters has improved

dramatically, giving the individual

firefighter greater protection firom

fire, heat and moisture. Yet

firefighters continue to suffer burns

at a stubbornly constant rate. With support fi-om the U.S. Fire

Administration, BFRCs Fire Safety

Engineering Division is examining

the thermal environment of

firefighters' protective clothing

under stage and attack conditions

of structural firefighting. The causes of these burn injuries are being

elucidated by an improved

understanding of the relationships

among three factors. The critical

factors are: the thermal

environments surrotmding

firefighters when the injuries occur,

the performance of the protective

clothing itself and the activities and

tactics of the firefighters that may

contribute to the burn injuries.

James Randall Lawson is leading

the research effort aimed at developing the measurement tools

and techniques needed to determine

the performance of firefighters'

protective clothing. Initially,

Lawson examined the broad range

of fire conditions and events that

lead to burn injuries. Much fire research has focused on structural

fires related to the design of

buildings, their materials and

contents, whereas litde research has

examined the thermal environment

around firefighters while they are attacking a strucmral fire.

Firefighters avoid contact with the

flaming envelope — that area boimded by the flame's edge. Many

firefighter burn injtiries are not

caused by flame contact, but by

factors such as contact with hot

surfaces, excessive exposure to

high thermal radiation and/or

insufficient protection provided by

protective clothing. In one scenario, a firefighter was burned even though

the firefighter's protective clothing

was wet on the inside from

perspiration and on the outside

from the splattering of the fire hose.

Lawson has developed detailed

recommendations for improving

protective clothing including

reducing and controlling the

moisture inside the clothing. The

report is specific about the need to

inform and train firefighters about

the performance limits of their

clothing and strongly urges that

firefighter training and tactics

avoid placing the firefighter in an environment where the limit of the

protective clothing is challenged.

Contact: Mr. James Randall

Lawson, (301) 975-6877,

jlawson@nist.gov

Fire Fighter turnout gear damaged during

a fire that resulted in burn injuries
Results were

favorable,

demonstrating

that the

application of

durable agents

reduced the

chance of

ignition and

flame spread

under

laboratory

conditions

3.13 Foams Used to Halt

Wildland/Urban Fires

The 1991 Oakland Hills fire destroyed 2,889 homes in a wildland/urban conflagration

with devastating consequences.

Unprotected homes were consumed

by the fire, but some homes that were in the path of the fire were

saved because fire fighters or homeowners continually sprayed

water on them while the building

was threatened. However, this action

required that the individuals

protecting the structure stay with the

home during a very dangerous

situation. Researchers, led by Daniel

Madrzykowski in the Fire Safety

Engineering Division, are testing the

use of water-based, compressed air

foams to cover the exteriors of

buildings. Called "durable agents,"

these protein-based foams and water

thickeners (known as gelling agents)

could be applied to building

exteriors, especially in areas where

fires tend to begin, such as in corners or under eaves. The research

team conducted an investigation to

test the capability of these durable

agents to protect a building's exterior

materials from ignition. Two- 1.2m

by 2.4m walls were built in a laboratory to form a corner with an

attic assembly positioned over the

walls in typical residential

construction. Experiments were conducted with durable agents

sprayed on the exterior surfaces and

without the agents. Results were

favorable, demonstrating that the

application of durable agents

reduced the chance of ignition and

flame spread under laboratory

conditions. Yet much work remains,

especially in keeping the agent on

the exterior surface under hot, dry

and windy conditions.

Contact: Mr. Daniel Madrzykowski,

(301) 975-6677,

daniel.madrzykowski@nist.gov

Fire fighters from ttie Yorl( Beacli Fire Dept., Maine protecting a building exposed to an adjacent building fire
Awards & Staff Recognition

1997 NIST Bronze Medal

Ms. Geraldine S. Cheok was

awarded die NIST bronze medal

for pioneering experimental research

which resulted in the development

of hybrid-moment-resisting precast

concrete beam column connections

.

The Bronze Medal Award

recognizes work that has resulted

in more effective and efficient

management systems and the

demonstration of unusual initiative or creative ability in developing and

improving methods and procedures

and/or for significant contributions

affecting major programs, scientific

accomplishment within NIST,

and superior performance of

assigned tasks for at least five

consecutive years.

1997 Distinguished Young

Engineer Award

Dr. Gregory T. Linteris was selected

by the Maryland Science Center as one of four to receive the 1 997

Distinguished Young Engineer

Award. A member of the NIST staff

since 1992, Dr. Linteris was cited

for his research on advanced fire suppressants and flame inhibition

mechanisms. His work, as part of

an international commimity of

scientists and engineers, is concerned with finding alternatives

to the ozone-depleting chemical

halon 1301, upon which the

modern world has depended for

ensuring fire protection in industry,

transportation, communications

and defense systems.

Fire Protection Person

of tiie Year - Automatic

Fire Alarm Association

Mr. Richard Bukowski was

presented with the Automatic Fire

Alarm Association Fire Protection

Person of the Year Award. This

award is presented annually to the

person who, in the opinion of

AFAA's Board of Directors, has

made a significant contribution to

the Association's goal of advancing

life safety in America. Mr. Bukowski

received the award "In recognition

of your coundess hours of research

in the fire detection field; efforts

throughout your career to make the

world safer through the use of

smoke detection and fire alarm

systems; dedication to finding the

best way to apply detection

principles for life safety in buildings;

and work through the codes and

standards process to ensure the

proper use of detection and alarm

systems."

1997 ACI Structural

Research Award

Dr. William C. Stone and Ms.

Geraldine S. Cheok are recipients of

the ACI Structural Research Award

in 1 997 for their paper

(Performance of Hybrid MomentResisting Precast Beam-Column

Concrete Connections Subjected to

Cyclic Loading) describing tests on

and developing guidelines for

precast moment frames using mild

steel and post-tensioned tendons to

develop the connections.

Federal Laboratory's

Consortium Technology

Transfer Award

Dr. Htmter Fanney and Mr. Brian

Dougherty, received the Federal

Laboratory's Consortium Award for

excellence in technology transfer.

This award recognized Federal

laboratory employees who have

accomplished outstanding work in

the process of transferring

laboratory developed technology.

Fanney and Dougherty received the

award for their patented research

work related to solar photovoltaic

hot water systems. The award was

presented at the Federal Laboratory

Consortitmi's National Technology

Transfer Meeting in April 1 997.
NIST Measurement

Service Award

Mr. Robert Zarr received NIST s Measurement Service Award for

Standard Reference Material

(SRM) 1453 on thermal resistance

expanded polystyrene board. The

1 992 Energy Policy Act requires

that all windows be labeled to give

consumers the ability to compare

products. SRM 1453, having

known thermal transmission

properties, will be used to calibrate

the window testing apparatuses.

NIST Equal Employment

Opportunity Award

Dr. Sivaraj Shyam Sunder

was awarded the NIST Equal

Employment Opportunity Award

for leading a comprehensive review

of NIST s diversity policy and

activities which resulted in

significant revision and

strengthening of the NIST

diversity program.

The Equal Employment

Opportunity Award recognizes

significant contributions to EEO

that was performed in an

exceedingly outstanding manner

by an NIST employee.

NIST Safety Award

Mr. Gary L. Roadarmel and

Mr. Laurean A. DeLauter were awarded the NIST Safety Award

for conducting more than 500

large-scale fire experiments over

the past three years efficiendy

and without injury.

The Safety Award for Superior

Accomplishment recognizes

unusually significant contributions

on the NIST Occupational Safety

and Health program activities.

ASME Best Paper Award

Dr. Hunter Fanney, Mr. Brian P. Dougherty and Mr. Kenneth P. Kramp received an ASME best

paper award for their paper, "Field

Performance of Photovoltaic Solar

Water Heating Systems", which was

presented by Fanney at the Solar

Energy Forum in Washington,

D.C. Fanney and Dougherty are researchers within the Building

Environment Division. Kramp,

currendy a graduate student at Virginia Tech, assisted in the

research during his tenure as an

undergraduate cooperative

education student. The Solar

Energy Forum, attended by over

1 , 1 00 people, was sponsored by the

American Society of Mechanical

Engineers, the American Solar

Energy Society, the American

Institute ofArchitects, the Solar

Energy Industries 7\ssociation and

the U.S. Department of Energy.

Outstanding Presentation

Award

Ms. Joannie Chin received the

Outstanding Presentation Award

from ASTM Committee D30 on

Composite Materials for her paper

"Effects of Environmental Exposure

on FRP Materials used in

Construction." The paper was

published in the Journal of

Composites Technology and Research,

Vol. 19, No. 4, pp 205-213,

October 1997.

Best Publication Award

for 1997 — Federation

of Societies for

Coatings Technology

Dr. Tinh Nguyen received the Best

Publication Award for 1 997 from

the Coatings Committee of the

Federation of Societies for Coatings

Technology in recognition of the

best corrosion-related article

published in Journal ofCoatings

Technology, "Unified Model for the

Degradation of Organic Coatings

on Steel in a Neutral Electrolyte"

Vol. 68, No. 855, pp 45-56.

Award of Excellence -

International Appliance

Technical Conference

Dr. Natascha Castro received one of

three awards of excellence for a

technical paper at the International

Appliance Technical Conference

held May 12-14, 1997 in

Columbus, Ohio. Her paper,

entitled "Energy and Water

Consumption Testing of a Conventional Dishwasher and an

Adaptive Control Dishwasher",

showed that because the current

DOE Test Procedure for

dishwashers does not effectively test equipment imder real world

conditions involving soiled dishes, it significandy overestimates the

energy performance of adaptive

control dishwashers. Using the

existing test procedure, the water

heating energy, which represents

approximately 80% of the total

energy consumed by a dishwasher,

was found to be 35% less for an

adaptive dishwasher when

compared with a conventional

model. However, in tests conducted

with a soiled load, the water energy

for the adaptive control dishwasher

was slighdy higher than the

conventional model. This points

out the need for revisions in the

DOE dishwasher test procedure to

obtain energy factors that

consumers can rely on for making

purchase decisions.

1996 Harry C. Bigglestone

Award for Excellence in

Communication of Fire

Protection Concepts

Working under a grant from the

NIST Fire Research Program, Drs.

James Milke and Thomas McAvoy

of the University of Maryland were

recognized for their paper "Analysis

of Signature Patterns for

Discriminating Fire Detection with

Multiple Sensors," which appeared

in the NFPA journal. Fire

Technology. They developed a
Awards & Staff Recognition

prototype of an intelligent method

for effectively detecting various

smoldering and flaming fires in the

presence of interfering sources common to residential-type settings.

When perfected, such a system

would go

a long way toward eliminating the

false alarm problems which can

plague the current generation of

fire and smoke detectors.

Patent for Heat

Pump Performance

Enhancing Device

The Building Environment

Division 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 Mr.

Peter Rothfleisch of the Thermal

Machinery Group. Fimdamentally,

heat pumps utilize electrical power

to extract heat contained in the

outside air to heat the dwelling.

However, the rate at which the

heat pump is able to bring this

heat energy into the hoiase is direcdy proportional to the outside

temperature. Consequendy, on a cold day, heat pumps are unable to

pump enough heat to match the

heat loss of the dwelling. For this

reason, heat pumps are 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

mixture 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

coltmin enables the heat pump to

maintain acceptable performance

over a much wider temperature

range and reduces the need for

resistance heating. An additional

benefit of the device is that the

necessary zeotropic refrigerant

mixture can be formulated

from environmentally

acceptable components.

ASiyAE Fellow

Dr. William L. Grosshandler was

named a Fellow ofASME

International, formerly the

American Society of Mechanical

Engineers. The election to

Fellowship recognizes the persons

outstanding contribution to the

technical community, as well as the

support of organizations such as NIST to the profession. Dr.

Grosshandler developed a research

team and leads a world-class effbrt

in the advanced technologies

needed to identify new fire suppressants, obtain accurate

flammability data for new

refrigerants and help the U.S.

fire detection industry succeed

in global competitiveness.

Department of Defense

Program Manager

Dr. Richard G. Gann has been

named the first Technical Program

Manager of the Department of

Defense's Next-Generation Fire

Suppression Technology Program

(NGP). Supported by the Office

of the Secretary of Defense, the

8-year, $46 million program has as

its goal to develop and demonstrate,

by 2004, halon 1301 alternative

technologies that are easily

retrofittable into current aircraft,

ships and land combat vehicles.

The new technologies will be

applicable to a broad range of

critical civilian applications as well.

In addition to his position as Chief

of the BFRL Fire Science Division,

Gann will oversee projects

conducted at tmiversity, industry

and government laboratories.

Keynote Speaker at

National Conference on

Wind Engineering

Dr. Emil Simiu of the Structures

Division was a keynote speaker

at the 8th U.S. National

Conference on Wind Engineering,

Baltimore, MD, June 5-8, 1997.

His talk "Toward a New Generation

of Standard Provisions for Wind

Loads " described innovative

NIST activities conducted in

collaboration wdth industry to

improve significandy the riskconsistency and economy of

structural design for wind.

Chair of NFPA's Committee on

Alternative Approaches to

Life Safety

Mr. David Stroup, of the Fire Safety

Engineering Division has been

selected to chair the National Fire

Protection Association's Technical

Committee on Alternative

Approaches to Life Safety. This

committee is responsible for

developing NFPA 101A, Guide on

Alternative Approaches to Life

Safety. This guide consists of a number of different methodologies

for evaluating life safety in

buildings, each independent system

is meant to be used in conjunction

with NFPA 101, Code for Safety to

Life in Buildings and Structtires.

Many of the systems described in

the guide are derived from the Fire

Safety Evaluation System developed

at NIST in the late 1970's. The role

of this committee is expected to

grow as fire and building regulations

in the United States shift from

being compliance oriented to

performance based.
NSTC Subcommittee on

Construction and Building

An Industry

Perspective

A brochure describing an industry perspective on the National Construction Goals

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. 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. These priorities and

related collaborations with industry

and government guide the focus of

the Laboratory's programs. The

14 Federal agencies that participate

in C&B include those with

responsibilities as owners and

operators, regulators and researchers.

The Mission of C&B

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, for improvement of

the life cycle performance and

economy of constructed facilities. C&B addresses Administration goals

to: Q forge partnerships with

industry to strengthen

America's industrial

competitiveness and

create jobs.

i make environmental protection,

safety and energy efficiency

fully consistent with other

business objectives.

The C&B program Goals

To be accomplished by 2003, based

on 1994 business practices and

endorsed by industry leaders are:

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

50% reduction in construction

work illnesses and injuries

Industry Strategies

A brochure, "Construction

Industry Goals: An Industry

Perspective ", published in 1997 for

C&B by the Civil Engineering

Research Foundation (CERF),

describes the industry perspective

on the goals and summarizes the

differing sector strategies for

implementation offered by the

National Association of

Homebuilders Research Center

(residential), the Construction

Industry Institute (industrial).

National Institute of Building

Sciences (commercial/institutional)

and the American Public Works

Association (public works). This

input is used to plan a BFRL

research program that responds to

industry needs.
NSTC Subcommittee on

Construction and Building

in 1937

Creation and

Development of the

Partnership for

Advancing Technology

in Housing (PATH)

The Partnership for Advancing

Technologies in Housing is being

designed to bring together

government and industry to

develop, demonstrate and deploy

housing technologies, designs and

practices that can significandy

improve the quality of housing

without raising the cost of

construction. The partnership,

which will be made up of industry

leaders who are willing to commit

time and resources of their

companies to help achieve the goals,

has started with a core group of

industry leaders to establish goals

and define commitments from

industry. The partnership will be

housed in the Department of

Housing and Urban Development

(HUD). C&B will coordinate

federal agency support for the

organization and development

of the partnership by holding

meetings and identifying Federal

experts and agency capabilities that can be used in the development

of PATH goals and plans. The

PATH program will include pilot

developments at sites around the

country where homes that meet the

goals will be constructed and sold.

C&B will also coordinate federal

R&D effort in support of PATH

goals and industry priorities and

identify technologies that can be

These superinsulated duplexes look normal but they use only half the space

heating energy of conventional houses, saving their owners about $200 each year

used in PATH pilot homes.

C&B will play a key part in the

development of a public outreach

and publicity program for PATH.

Working with Industries

of Construction

In 1997 the Subcommittee on

Transportation Infirastructure was

integrated with C&B. C&B is now

exploring the possibility of a broader program on civil infi^astructuxe involving more than

transportation. Two elements are

likely to be part of this broader

program; the Partnership for the

Advancement of Infirastructure and

its Renewal (PAIR), a parmership

between government and industry,

proposed by the Civil Engineering

Research Foundation; and the

Institute for Civil Infirastructure

Systems (ICIS), a forum for

addressing infirastructure issues

planned by the National Science

Foundation.

The CONMAT Council

was formally established to

implement the high-performance

CONstruction MATerials and

systems program designed to create a new generation of constructed

fecilities. The Council consists of

12 different material groups

(aluminiun, 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 $250 million effort to plan and

implement a national program

of research development and

deployment. CONMAT provides an excellent mechanism to align

federal R&D with industry

programs for advanced construction

materials and systems. The use of

high performance materials is a key

factor in achieving many of the

National Construction Goals.
C&B is working with the

American Society of Mechanical

Engineers to develop a joint

government/industry program for

mechanical and electrical systems

industries similar to CONMAT. It

is expected that this program would

involve organizations representing

heating and air-conditioning

systems, security systems, fire

alarm systems, electrical systems and

elevators and escalators.

C&B is supporting a National

Academy of Sciences study to

document the relationships between

the workplace environment and

worker productivity.

C&B held a joint workshop with

members of the Construction

Industry Institute to identify for the

private sector ongoing and planned

research that is being conducted in

Federal laboratories and for the

Federal laboratories identify the

needs of the private sector. C&B

will continue to define a program of

breakthrough research and stimulate

Federal agencies to include elements

of the program in their plans.

Streamlining Regulation

Industry identified one of the

barriers to reducing delivery time

as the process of complying with a

multiplicity of Federal, state and

local regulations, some of which

are in conflict. C&B is supporting

the National Conference of States

on Building Codes and Standards

in a project to assemble, from

participating organizations

and Federal, state and local

governments, processes, procedures

and enabling legislation "that work".

These model processes, procedures

and legislation are being tailored to

accommodate different types of

state/local authority and submitted

to relevant national public and

private sector organizations for

endorsement and promotion for use by relevant Federal, state and local

authorities. This project is part of

the U.S. Innovation Partnership

focus on regulatory innovation.

A ntmiber of C&B member

agencies sponsored the formation of

the National Evaluation Service

Building Innovation Center

(NES/BIC) which will provide an enhanced evaluation service for new

and innovative products. Panels of

experts in certain areas will develop

the criteria for evaluation and data

submitted by manufacturers wUl be

reviewed for suitability and

conformance to the criteria.

Coordinating

Federal R&D

To explore opportunities for

collaboration and avoid any

duplication, C&B member

agencies present their programs

at C&B meetings. To reflect this

coordination, a C&B web site

was developed in fiscal year

1 997 and will be updated on

a regular basis.

A project to identify data that can provide baseline measures of

current practice with respect to the

National Construction Goals has

been started by BFRCs Office of

Applied Economics. The effort will

provide baseline measures for

construction technology goals.

Representatives from NIST

(Building Materials Division and

Polymers Division), Department of

Energy (DOE), Army Research

Laboratory (ARL), National Science

Foundation (NSF), Federal

Highway Administration (FFIWA)

and Navy (NAVSEA and NSWC)

have formed the Federal Working

Group on Composite Materials.

The primary mission of this

group is to provide a forum for

communication, networking,

sharing of technical information

and interagency collaboration.
Domestic Activities

Outreach

TheLaboratory has made a concerted effort to improve

communication with the

building and fire commimities

through printed and electronic

media. To provide detailed

information on our technical

programs and products, three

special publications have been

released, Project Summaries,

Publications and Impacts. These

documents have been produced

annually, so BFRL also publishes

a full color quarterly newsletter

Research Update, which is mailed

to about 5000 recipients.

For more than three years BFRL

has had a site on the World Wide

Web and is 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

maintains an intranet on its local area network for use by BFRL

staff only. This intranet improves

commtmications within the

laboratory and makes more

information easUy available to

staff in an electronic format.

Collaboration

with Industry

The Building and Fire Research

Laboratory's "strategy for success" is to buUd on the ties that have been

developed to identify research needs

and to focus our program on the

development of products that wUl

meet those needs. Direct research

tmder Collaborative Research and

Development Agreements

(CRADA's) with individual

companies or consortia is the most

direct method of meeting the needs

of industry.

Industry Oonsortia

NIST works with industry

consortia in a number of areas including the demonstration of a standard communication protocol

for building automation and control

systems (BACnet), application

protocol for the process plant

industries (PlantSTEP), the

prediction of the service life of

coatings, the development of a methodology for evaluating seams

of rubber roofing membranes and

advanced environmentally-friendly

and fire-safe materials.

NIST has expanded its cooperative

research and development

agreement to include 22 partners

to develop interoperable building

control equipment that

communicates using the BACnet

protocol. The objective of the

consortium 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-rim

certification program. It wiU also

provide a way to interconnect

traditionally stand-alone building

control systems such as HVAC,

fire, lighting and security. NIST

has developed test methods and

software testing tools and provided

facilities for member companies to

bring their prototype products

together for testing. The following

partners make up the BACnet

consortium: Alerton Technologies

andover Controls, Automated

Logic, Auto-Matrix, Carrier,

Cimetrics Technology, Cornell

University, Delta Controls,

Honeywell, Johnson Controls,

KMC Controls, Landis and Stafea,

McQuay International, Orion

Analysis, Phoenix Controls,

PolarSoft, Siebe Environmental

Controls, Simplex, Teletrol,

Systems, Trane and York.

NIST worked with industry to

establish PlantSTEP, Inc., an

indtistry consortium supporting

the development of information

exchange standards for the

process, power and construction

industries. PlantSTEP membership

(20 companies as of December

1997) includes companies that

own, operate, engineer, construct, or supply materials for process

plants and over 90% of the

vendors of 3D plant design systems.

In collaboration with PlantSTEP,

NIST developed the Plant Spatial

Configuration AP (AP 227) which

supports the 3D design and

engineering of process plants, with an emphasis on piping design. The

PlantSTEP/NIST team completed

the Draft International Standard

version ofAP 227 and ISO

circulated AP 227 for ballot in

September 1997. Consortium

members are: Bechtel, Black &

Veatch, Eastman Chemical,

E. I. DuPont & Co., H.B. Zachry

Merck & Co., Air Products &

Chemicals, Autodesk, Bendey

Systems, CADCentre,

Computervision, Dassault Systems

ofAmerica, EA Systems, Hitachi,

Intergraph, Jacobus Technology,

John Brown Systems, Rebis,

Shaw/Sunland and Toshiba.

The NIST-led Consortiimi on

Service Life Prediction of Coatings

has completed its third year and

plans for a second three-year phase

are now being drawn up. Apart

from NIST, its members are Adas

Electrical Devices, Courtaulds

International, Dow Chemical,

DuPont, Duron, Eastman

Chemical, National Renewable

Energy Laboratory, PPG, Rhom

and Hass, South Florida Test Sites

and the Federal Highway

Administration.

The NIST-led Consortium on

Tape-Bonded Seam for EPDM

Roofing Membranes has been

successflil in showing that adhesive

tapes perform at least as well as liquid-applied adhesives tmder the

conditions investigated so far. The

work will be completed in fiscal year 1998. Apart firom NIST, the

members are Firestone Rubber

Company, Carlisle-Syntec, Ashland

Chemical, the National Roofing

Contractors Association and the

Roofing Consultant Institute.
NIST has joined industry to

develop new tools for industry to

design and make materials with

better fire performance. Fire Safety

Division researchers, led by Dr.

Takashi Kashiwagi, are developing a

theoretical model to describe the

thermal behavior of polymer chains

in the presence of flame retardant

additives, various approaches to

designing flame retardant materials

and new methodology to measure

material flammability and the

relationship to fire performance.

Industrial partners in the

consortiimi are: EQ., FMC, Akzo

Nobel and Sekisui American.

Cooperative R&D Agreements

In addition to the above agreements signed with consortia, NIST has

cooperative research and development agreements (CRADA's) with:

American Association of State Highway

and Transportation Officials

Testing of Materials for

Construction ofTransportation

Systems

Dow Chemical Company Evaluate Thermal Performance of

Advanced Insulation Panels

Enermodal Engineering Limited Two-Dimensional Heat and

M^oisture Transfer M^odel

Electric Power Research Institute The Measurement of Evaporative

Heat Transfer Coefficients of

Refrigerant Mixmres

Johnson Controls, Inc. Advanced Controls for VAV Air

Handling Systems

Aladdin Industries Thermal Test Methods for

Advanced Insulation Systems

The LORRON Corporation Development of Fire CAD using

the NIST CFAST Computation

Engine as a basis and LORRON's

CAD-Based Topological Modeling

Technology

Simulation Technologies Incorporated Incident Management System

(Fireground)

National Elevator Industry, Inc. Water Flow in Elevator Hoistways

Dow Corning Corporation Flame Retardant Mechanism of SI

Additives in Polyethylene

Duke Scientific Corporation Measurement of Monosized

Polymer Micro-Spheres less than

125 nm Diameter

General Motors Corporation Post-Crash Automobile Fire

Smdies

Structural Composites, Inc. Fire Performance of Composite

Materials

Dow Corning Corporation Combustion of Silicone

Standards and codes are critical

components in the processes of

programming, planning, designing,

procuring, constructing, equipping,

operating, maintaining and

recycling the buUt environment.

Standards and codes set the

framework effecting the health,

safety, functionality, quality and

commercial context of the buUt

environment. Through active

membership and participation

in a number of Standards

Development Organizations,

BFRL staff contribute significant

time and technical expertise to the

process of developing national and

international standards. Some of the

specific organizations within which

BFRL works include the American

Concrete Institute (ACI), American

Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE),

American Society of Heating,

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning

Engineers (ASHREA), American

Institute of Steel Construction

(AISC), National Fire Protection

Association (NPFA), American

Society for Testing and Materials

(ASTM) and International

Organization for Standardization

(ISO). In ASTM alone, BFRL

is active on Committee

C009-Concrete and Concrete

A^regates; Committee DOOl-Paint

and Related Coating Materials;

Committee D004-Road and

Paving Materials; Committee

D008-Roofing, Waterproofing and

Bitiuninous Materials; Committee

E05-Fire Standards; and Committee

E06-Performance of Buildings. In

addition, BFRL is a member of the

American National Standards

Institute's (ANSI) Construction

Standards Board and the

International Code Council's (ICC)

Industry Advisory Committee.

Through its involvement with

ANSI, BFRL is supporting the

development of a strong U.S.

position in regional and

international standards activities and

through a strengthening relationship

with the ICC, BFRL is supportive

of the efforts to create a single set of

national building codes.
International Activities

Oanada

BFRL and the Institute for Research

in Construction (IRC) of the

National Research Council of

Canada (NRCC) signed an

agreement in October 1997 to

identify areas for collaborations that

will increase each laboratory's

productivity and effectiveness,

improve the performance and

economy of constructed facilides

and increase the productivity and

compedtiveness of the industries of

construction. Areas for

collaboradons include: 1)

laboratory, field and analytical

research; 2) measurement and test methods; 3) recommendations for

national and international

standards; 4) conducting workshops

with industry, academia and

government agencies; 5) laboratory

visits and exchanges of staff; 6)

exchanges of information and 7)

joint planning.

The Building Envirormient

Division and IRC are completing

a three-year research project

(1995-1997) that developed a computer program for promoting

acceptable indoor air quality in

the design and operation of

buildings. The computer program

predicts ventUation performance

and contaminant levels in a building before construction and

analyzes ventilation and indoor

air quality in existing buildings.

Robert Zarr of the Building

Environment Division, Eric

Lagergren of ITL's Statistical

Engineering Division and M.

Ktunaran of the IRC performed

conductivity measurements firom an

international interlaboratory study

for glass-fiber board and fibrous

alumina sUica. The measurements

were determined using guarded hot

plate apparatuses at BFRL and the

IRC. North America manufacturers

of thermal insulation must satisfy

the thermal performance

requirements promulgated by the

U.S. and Canada to market their

products in both countries. This

interlaboratory study was initiated

in 1 993 and completed in 1 997.

U.S.-Japan Cooperative

Program in Natural Resources

The U.S.-Japan Cooperative

Program in Natural Resources

(UJNR) was created in January

1 964; one of three programs

comprising the U.S.-Japan

Cooperative Science Program.

BFRL co-chairs two of

the 19 Panels.

Fire Research and Safety

Panel

The Fire Research and Safety Panel

explores the chemistry and physics

of fires. It encourages, develops and

carries out the exchange of

information and data in fire and

smoke physics, toxicity, chemistry

and risk and hazard evaluation;

promotes cooperative research in

areas of fire safety and combustion

toxicity; encoiu^ages innovations in

the development of risk assessment

methods, fire test methods and

design standards; establishes

multinational consensus of

9

computer-based fire modeling;

develops the basis for performance

fire codes; and develops new fire protection and prevention

technology appropriate to modern

products and design. The 13th joint

meeting of the panel was held at NIST in March 1996; its l4th

meeting will be held in Japan later

this year.

U.S.-Japan collaborative research

has enabled staff to maximize the

strengths of each country's

laboratory facilities. The panel

has advanced fire science and

technology in areas such as fire-smoke toxicity; fire detection;

microgravity combustion; thermal

degradation of polymers;

intumescent polymer burning;

wall fire modeling; smoke flow in

buildings; building fire modeling;

and rate of heat release

measurements. Collaborative

research has led to a new option

for housing; a new method for

testing fire smoke toxicity; the

formation of an international fire safety science association; and access to unique fire research facilities in

both countries. In its 22-year

history, the members have

exchanged more than 40 guest

researches in fire research and safety.

The panel co-chairs are: Dr. Jack

Snell, U.S.-side panel. Deputy

Director, Building and Fire

Research Laboratory and Dr.

Tsutoma Shimazaki, Japan-side

panel, Director-General, Building

Research Institute.
Wind and Seismic Effects

Panel

The Wind and Seismic Effects

Panel promotes exchanges of

technology for the reduction of

damages caused by strong winds,

earthquakes and storm surge and

tsunamis. Through the panel, U.S.

and Japanese researchers joindy

develop and share seismic and

high-wind measurement records

and technical data, as well as information on the performance,

design and construction of lifelines,

buildings and other constructed

facilities. The 29th Joint Meeting

was held in Japan, May 1 997; the

30th meeting wUl be conducted at NIST, May 1998. Research

exchanges have advanced

technology development in areas such as the effects of seismic and

wind loads on steel, concrete and

masonry structures; liquefaction risk

analysis; smart materials; and

composite and hybrid structures. Joint collaborative research

programs have produced improved

design and construction practices

for both cotmtries. Eight joint

programs have been completed; two

are on-going. Joint post disaster

investigations are performed

immediately following the disaster.

Panel activities have improved

buUding and bridge standards and

codes and aided structural design

and construction and emergency

management in Japan and the

United States. Panel members

created and exchanged digitized

earthquake, wind and storm surge

records; shared earthquake and

wind engineering information and

strong-motion measurement

techniques with other cotmtries;

produced database systems for

improved measurement and

prediction methods; and verified

mathematical models of

phenomena such as storm surge and

tsunamis, severe weather and

performance of constructed

facilities. The panel offers key

perspectives on developments

important to the U.S. and

Japanese design and construction

community, emergency planning

and preparedness managers, public

health officials and manufacturers

and developers of products for the

construction industry. Valuable

insight is gained into each

country's disaster preparedness

methods, wind and seismic

measurement techniques, building

and public works design and

construction projects and

standards and code systems.

Since its creation 30 years ago, more

than 200 guest researchers have

been exchanged and their findings

have improved standards and

building codes. During its two-week

annual meeting, panel researchers

visited more than 10 major

technical sites such as public works

projects to discuss innovative

techniques, research laboratories to

observe unique tests and discuss

measurement capabilities and

structures designed with modern

technologies that better resists wind

and seismic forces. These visits

enhance research, design,

construction and emergency

management procedures used by

Japan and the United States. They

provide opportunities to observe

development and implementation

of new technologies that advance

U.S. and Japan's research and

practice in wind and earthquake

science and engineering. Panel

research in areas of earthquake and

wind science, engineering and

emergency management contributes

to both countries' research

programs. The data produced by

this joint effort influence ongoing

research, development of new

research and improvements in

Japanese and U.S. practices and

standards.

The panel Co-chairs are Dr.

Richard N. Wright, U.S.-side

panel. Director, Building and

Fire Research Laboratory and

Mr. Seizo Tsuji, Japan-side panel,

Director-General, Public Works

Research Institute.
I

International Activities

Common Agenda's Natural

Disaster Reduction

The Common Agenda is an

agreement between the President of

the United States and the Prime

Minister ofJapan to join policy

level officials and technical

specialists from the United States

and Japan to identify earthquake

research and policy issues and seek

agreement on cooperative projects

to mitigate their impact through

improved monitoring and by

strengthening research and response

countermeasures. BFRL participates

in two thrusts of the Natural

Disaster Reduction Initiative.

Earthquake Policy Symposium

The second Earthquake Policy

Symposium was conducted in

September 1 997, Kobe Japan.

BFRL played a major role in

planning the first and second

symposium. Two central themes ran through the symposium:

• research is required to address

the long term nature of

earthquakes as they confront

both countries and

• effective disaster informadon

deployment methods are needed

to share research findings and

disaster-reduction policy

information with government

and academic laboratories and

with the public.

• real-time seismic information

systems for use in disasterprevention and response policy.

• loss estimation models in

emergency prevention,

preparedness and response and

• post-earthquake response and

recovery policies for prevention

of future losses.

Both countries will develop a plan

to address these topics within a year. In preparation for this venture, they

will seek linkages with appropriate

U.S.-Japan programs such as the

UJNR Panels (see above) and with

appropriate respective agency

programs to coordinate and

focLis related work.

Earthquake Disaster

Mitigation Partnership

Also, in September 1997, the

U.S.-Japan Earthquake Disaster

Mitigation Partnership met in

Kobe to review proposed joint

cooperative research projects.

The priority areas for cooperation

include quantifying future

earthquake potential; strengthening

loss estimation methods; testing

basic theories of the earthquake

source; imderstanding near source motions; geological effects and

structural response; reducing seismic

risks posed by steel buildings;

strengthening, evaluating and

retrofitting of existing and damaged

buildings and infrastructure;

developing performance-based

design methods; developing

real-time seismic information

systems; and controlling post

earthquake fires.

Forty-three joint research projects were endorsed. NIST is responsible

for seven projects that center in

BFREs Structures Division and Fire

Safety Engineering Division.

Mechanisms for carrying out the

Partnership included relying on the

UJNR Panels (see above) and on

other bilateral linking methods

available in the participating

agencies; symposia and workshops

that address specific topics imder

the Earthquake Policy Symposium;

and other methods identified by the

collaborators. The U.S. and Japan

sides wiU convene respective agency

meetings throughout the year to

initiate work on their respective

projects. An annual report on the

mission and activities of the

partnership will be developed by

March 1998. The next flill meeting

of the U.S.-Japan Partnership will

be held with the Earthquake Policy

Symposium High Level Forum

scheduled in the fall of 1998.

Microgravity Experiments

Takashi Kashiwagi conducted

microgravity experiments in the

Japan Microgravity Center

(JAMIC) drop tower with scientists

from NASA and JAMIC. This

work was coordinated with the

microgravity experiments performed

on space shutde Columbia.
Kingdom of

Saudi Arabia

Joel Zingeser leads a joint BFRL

and Technology Services program

aimed at helping Saudi Arabia

develop and adopt a building code

based on U.S. practices. This

bilateral work will help the U.S.

construction industry in major

developing markets to avoid

technical barriers to trade and to

promote the application of U.S.

technology in international

construction markets through the

development and adoption of

appropriate building and

construction practices, codes,

specifications and standards.

Work with the Kingdom of Saudi

Arabia is being conducted under a Memoranda of Understanding

between NIST/BFRL and the

National Conference of States on

Building Codes and Standards and

NIST and the Saudi Arabia

Standards Organization (SASO).

The SASO team leaders, including

representatives of the Royal

Commission ofJubail and Yanbu,

Aramco and the Ministry of

Defense visited the U.S. and

participated in an orientation

program to better acquaint them

with U.S. building code

development and enforcement

processes. A resource document

comparing the Saudi-Aramco

building code with recent editions

of the Uniform Building Code has

been prepared by NIST and is being reviewed by SASO in

preparation of a Saudi Building

Code workshop, February 1998,

Riyadh with U.S. and SASO

technical experts.

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 involved conducting

joint research and exchanging 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.

James R. Clifton of the Building

Materials Division is NIST's

principal investigator of a three-year

project on developing performance

tests and criteria for polymer

concrete as a repair material. The

project commenced in 1 996 under

the sponsorship of the Madame

Curie Program. The research has

resulted in several presentations

given at international conferences

which were published in conference

proceedings.

Piotr Domanski of the Building

Environment Division co-authored

a technical paper with K. Maczek,

J. MuUer and K. Wojtas from the

Technical University of Cracow

(TUC), Poland. The paper,

"A Ternary Zeotropic Mixture with

CO2 Component for R-22 Heat

Pump Application" was presented

at the CLIMA 2000 conference

in Brussels, Belgium, August 30

through September 2, 1997. The

reported results were obtained from

a joint NIST/TUC research

project sponsored by the Maria

Sklodowska-Curie Fund

administrated by the U.S.-Polish

Joint Commission.

Switzerland

The Ecole Polytechnique

Federale da Lausanne selected

BFREs Consolidated Model of Fire

Growth and Smoke Transport

(CFAST) for use in safety design

calculations for automobile and

train tunnels in Switzerland.

CFAST was developed by the

Fire Modeling and Applications

Group (864). It is a zone type

fire model that predicts the

environment in a structure

subjected to a fire.
International Activities

Multilateral

Activities

The Process Industry Executive

for Achieving Business Advantage

using Standards of Data Exchange

(PIEBASE) is an international

umbrella organization for process

industry active development of

Standard for the Exchange of

Product model data (STEP) and

other standards for industrial data.

Mark Palmer of die BFRL

Computer Integrated

Construction Group participates

in the PIEBASE executive group

and leads the PIEBASE Working

Group 2 on process plant

engineering activity models.

C System Performance: The

Practical Application of Fault

Detection and Diagnosis

Techniques in Real Buildings.

Ten cotmtries participate in the

Annex. Members of the U.S. team,

in addition to NIST, include

Johnson Controls Inc., the

Honeywell Center, MIT, Purdue

University and Field Diagnostic

Services, Inc. The objective of

Annex 34 is to v^^ork with

control manufacturers, industrial

parmers and/or building owners

and operators to demonstrate the

benefits of on-line performance

evaluation in real btiilding

applications. The fault detection

and diagnostic (FDD) methods

developed in Annex 25 are to be

combined into robtist performance

evaluation systems and incorporated

into a future generation of smart

building control systems.

International

Oommittee

Rarticipation

International Council for

Building Research and

Documentation (CIB)

BFRL is a member of CIB and

actively participates in many of its task groups and working

commissions. CIB is concerned

with fostering international

cooperation and information

exchange in building construction

and research as well as technology

development and documentation

and as such provides an important

channel for international prestandardization activity in this field. Jack Snell serves on the Board of

Directors and the Program and

Administrative Committees of

CIB. Current CIB priorities

include sustainable development,

performance based standards,

construction process re-engineering,

better service to its members

in the Americas and Asia

and in expanding its role as a

pre-standardization body.

Organization for

Economic Cooperation

and Development (OECD)

Barbara Lippiatt of BFRCs Office of

Applied Economics was an invited

member of the U.S. Delegation to

the OECD conference on Greener

Public Purchasing held in

Switzerland. Lippiatt presented the

Building for Environmental and

Economic SustainabUity (BEES)

methodology at the conference.

Lippiatt published the BEES

methodology in January 1 998 as Windows-based decision-support

software for the Federal

procurement community for

selecting products that achieve the

most appropriate balance between

life-cycle environmental, economic

and technical performance. This

work was sponsored in part by the

Environmental Protection Agency.
International Orgsnization

for Standardization (ISO)

James Gross is a member of ISO's

Technical Advisory Group (TAG) 8

on Buildings. TAGs are established

by ISO's Technical Management

Board to advise the Board on

matters of international

standardization, developments

in building technology and the

needs for new work. The TAG 8

membership consists of

representatives from seven European countries, Japan

and the United States.

Geoffrey Frohnsdorlf of the

Building Materials Division is the

chair of ISO/TC 59/SC 3/WG 9,

Design Life of Buildings. This

Working Group, created in 1 994, is being elevated to subcommittee

status in ISO/TC 59. The objective

is to develop standards for assuring

that the designed life of a building

under the anticipated

environmental actions will be

achieved and to provide a basis for

maintenance management. The

committee is producing a standard

on "Planning of and Management

for. Service Life of Buildings. " As of

October 1997 there are fourteen

countries participating

in the committee.

Technical committee (TC)86,

Refrigeration and Air-conditioning,

of the International Organization

for Standardization (ISO) is composed of eight subcommittees

that address such topics as safety

and testing and rating methods for

several categories of equipment.

NIST participates as a member of

the U.S. Technical Advisory Group

for ISO TC 86. This participation

provides NIST a means for staying

abreast of the range of activities

undertaken within the eight

subcommittees. A NIST

representative is also a member of

two working groups, WG1 and

WG5, within Subcommittee (SC)6,

Factory-made air-conditioning and

heat pump units. WG1 is working

to revise testing and rating standards

that apply to unitary air

conditioners and heat pumps. WG5

is developing testing and rating

standards that cover three categories

of multi-split air conditioners and

heat pumps.

James Pielert of the Building

Materials Division is chairman of

ASTM Subcommittee C09.92 on

International Activities which is the

United States Technical Advisory

Group (TAG) for ISO TC71

Subcommittee 1 on Testing of

Concrete. The role of the TAG is to

coordinate reviews of draft ISO

standards and to submit U.S.

standards for consideration by ISO.

For the latter, ASTM concrete

aggregate and admixture standards

have been submitted to Israel, the

secretariat of Subcommittee 1

.

Steven Bushby of the Building

Environment Division is convener of ISO TC 205 WG 3 Building

Control System Design. The

objective of this working group is to

develop a multi-part international

standard that addresses several

issues related to building control

systems including control system

functionality, communication

protocols, system specifications

and project management.

International Union of

Testing and Researcli

Laiaoratorles for Materials

and Structures (RIL.EM)

James Pielert is the United States

delegate to RILEM and is a member of the management

committee of RILEM. RILEM's

purpose is to promote progress in

the design, testing, manufacture

and use of building materials. Its membership includes specialists

from 80 countries involved with

construction and research.

Construction technology being

developed within RILEM

technical committees can be used

to the benefit of the U.S.

construction industry.

Walter Rossiter of the Building

Materials Division is the chair of

the International Union ofTesting

and Research Laboratories for

Materials and Strucmres

(RILEM/CIB) Joint Committee on

Roofing Materials. The committee

has two objectives: to develop a methodology for assessing the

condition of in-place low-sloped

roofing membranes and to

determine the state-of-the-art

in design, application and

maintenance of sustainable

low-sloped roofing systems.

Mark Kedzierski of the Building

Environment Division was an

invited lecturer at the Oij

International Seminar. "A New

Approach Toward LowTemperature and Air-Conditioning,

Engineering Without Fluorocarbon

Refrigerants" was presented

at Tomakomai, Japan,

September 16-19, 1997.

Mark Nyden of the Fire Science

Division was an invited participant

in the 3rd Australian Molecular

Modeling Workshop. The papers

covered a range of topics including

protein structure and function,

computational chemistry,

materials science, drug design

and bioinformatics. Nyden was

the expert whose paper addressed

modeling thermal reactivity in

polymers as they burn.

The International Conference on

Service Life Prediction of Coatings

was held in Breckenridge, CO, on

September 14-19, 1997. The

conference was chaired by

Jonathan Martin, who also chaired

the organizing committee.
Major Oonferences,

Seminars and Workshops

Forum for InternationsI

Cooperation on Fire

Research (FORUM)

The Forum for International

Cooperation on Fire Research

(FORUM) comprises heads of

public and private sector fire research laboratories and

organizations sponsoring fire research around the world.

Jack Snell is the chair of the

Forum and Richard Bukowski is the secretary. The group meets

annually to discuss mutual interests,

encourage cooperative undertakings

and promote the advancement of

fire safety engineering. Typically, the

FORUM sponsors a two-day

workshop with the host member to

highlight some important issue or

aspect of fire safety engineering in

the host's nation. The fiscal year

1 996 meeting was held in Norway

and the symposium focused on

issues associated with development

and implementation of a performance based standard in

that country. The fiscal year 1 997

meeting in Tainjin, China addressed

issues of fire research and testing

and the codes and standards

processes in China.

International Workshop

on the Fire Performance

of High-Strength

Concrete (HSC)

An international workshop on the

fire performance of high-strength

concrete (HSC) was sponsored

by BFRL in February 1997 in

collaboration with Mobil

Technology Company, Dupont

Engineering and Pordand Cement

Association. The workshop focused

on identifying the technical

challenges associated with the

performance HSC tmder fire conditions and the research needed

to provide solutions for those

challenges. The workshop brought

together leading researchers,

representatives of trade

organizations, government

regulators from nine different

countries, including Canada,

Finland, France, Germany, Norway,

Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom

and the United States. The

workshop commenced with

technical presentations by various

researchers, followed by four

concurrent working group sessions

addressing topics of material testing,

element testing, analytical smdies

and codes and standards for fire- exposed HSC. A workshop

proceedings, which includes

technical papers and recommended

research needs, is now available.

International Workshop on

Seismic Design

Methodologies

H.S. Lew of the BFRL co-organized

the International Workshop on

Seismic Design Methodologies for

the Next Generation of Codes that

was sponsored joindy by the USSlovene Joint Board for Scientific

and Technological Cooperation,

Office of International and

Academic Affairs/NIST and the

National Science Foundation.

international Conference

on Roofing Technology

The 4th International Conference

on Roofing Technology was held at NIST on September 17-19, 1997.

The conference was sponsored by

NIST, the National Roofing

Contractors Association and

several other organizations. It was

attended by about 450 persons

firom 22 cotmtries. Walter Rossiter

served on the planning committee.

1

Green Building

Conference

g

Building Environment Division,

join with the U.S. Green Building

Council, the American Instimte

ofArchitects and the San Diego

Gas and Electric Company to

sponsor the "Third International

Green Building Conference".

Green buildings are defined as those designed, constructed,

operated and demolished in ways

that have a minimum impact on

their global neighborhood and

internal environments. The

conference, held in San Diego, CA,

November 17-19, 1996, brought

together experts in the field of green | buildings. Approximately 300

people attended this conference, ' including representatives from

industry, academia and government.

International professionals presented

the latest information on sustainable , practices, materials and

technologies. The proceedings from j the conference are published in

NIST Special Publication 908,

"Third International Green Building [ Conference and Exposition — 1996".

ASHRAE/NIST

Refrigerants Conference

Refrigerant options for

air-conditioning and refrigeration

industry in response to ozone

depletion and climate change were

the topic of the third refrigerant

conference joindy organized by the

American Society of Heating,

Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning

Engineers and the National Institute

of Standards and Technology. The

conference entided "Refrigerants for

the 21st Centtuy " took place on

October 6 and 7 at NIST. While

the first two conferences organized

1
in 1989 and 1993 were related to ozone depletion, the latest

conference included global warming

considerations. Climate change is the next global environmental

problem. The parties to the U.N.

Framework Convention for

Climate Change held their third

meeting in Kyoto, Japan, in

December 1997, to negotiate

global preventive measures.

The conference program was based

on 16 invited presentations which

were given by international experts.

The covered topics included

contemporary and future

fluorochemicals, "natural fluids"

including hydrocarbons, carbon

dioxide and air, secondary loop

systems using ammonia and other

chemicals and not-in-kind

technologies. The opening speaker

was D. Albriton of the National

Oceanographic and Atmospheric

Administration who provided a

status report on atmospheric

science. NIST s contributors

included D. Didion (BFRL) and

M. McLinden (Chemical Science

and Technology Laboratory) who

co-authored two papers and

E Domanski (BFRT) who chaired

the conference steering committee.

The conference provided a forum

for presenting different points of

view on the best refrigerant options

for the friture. The need for this

dialog will increase as a result of

the intensifying international

climate change negotiations.

Second ComputerIntegrated Knowledge

System Network

Workshop

The second Computer-Integrated

Knowledge System Network

Workshop, held at NIST on

September 24-25, was co-sponsored

by the Civil Engineering Research

Foundation, the CONMAT

Council and ASTM. In addition to

keynote presentations on topics in

information technology, working

groups on specific groups of

construction materials discussed

how their communities might

exploit the CIKS network concept.

First Annual NGP

Research Conference

NIST organized and chaired

the first meeting of principal

investigators under the Department

of Defense Next-Generation Fire

Suppression Technology program

(NGP) . Twenty-two experts in

the field of fire suppression

discussed the early results from

the program which is aimed at the

development of new processes,

techniques and fluids for replacing

halon 1 30 1 for firefighting.

The topics included:

• types of fires faced by DOD,

• mechanisms of fire suppressants,

• new fire suppressant chemicals.

international Firefighting

Robot Competition

BFRL, along with Connecticut

Natural Gas, Trinity College and

^Jt^atts Industries, co-sponsored the

4th Annual Firefighting Home

Robot Contest at Trinity College in

Hartford, CT. Over 60 entrants

from the United States, Canada and

abroad were entered, making it the

largest robotics competition in the

United States that is open to

enthusiasts of any age, ability or

affiliation. The objective is to build

a self-propelled, autonomous robot

that navigates a 2.4 m x 2.4 m maze

and detects and extinguishes a candle in the shortest time. The

robot must fit within a 3 1 cm cube.

The contest encourages the

development of new approaches to

object- and fire-sensing systems, as well as creative approaches to flame

suppression. The founders' intent is to stimulate the eventual

development of commercial

firefighting robots. The over 1 ,000

spectators saw robots of highly

variable visage complete their task

in as littie as 1 0 seconds. First prize

in the Senior Division (college age

or older) went to a team from the

Pennsylvania State University at Abington; first prize in the Junior

Division was earned by a high

school team from Kitchener,

Ontario.

• improvements for using

water sprays,

• new test method for measuring

fire suppressant efficiency,

• effect of obstructions on fire suppressant effectiveness,

• advanced instrimientation

for frill-scale fire suppression experiments.
$16.8M $16.8M

$16.6M

In-house Research NIST Congressionally

Appropriated (SIRS)

Funds

$10.2M

$7.9M

FY 95

FY 96

FY 97

$2.9M

$1.4M $1.4M

$0.8M $0.9M $1 OM

In-house Research

Other Agency Funds

Other Resources Grants to Other

Organizations Including

Academia

Other Resources Grants

Note - Other resources include:

Advanced Technology Program

Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Standard Reference Materials

Expense and income

Other Agency

Funds NIST

Congressionally

Appropriated

In-house

Research
r BFRL Organiz:3tion

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

Applied Economics

H.E. Marshall

Standards & Code Services

J. P. Zlngeser

1^

1^

Director

R.N.Wright

Deputy Director

J.E. Snell

Construction & Building

A.J. Fowell

Cooperative Research

N.J. Raufaste

Structures Division

S. S. Sunder

Chief

• Structural

Evaluation

• Earthquake

Engineering

Building Materials

Division

G. J. Frohnsdorff

Chief

• Organic

Materials

• Inorganic

Materials

• Construction

Materials

Reference

Laboratories

Building Fire Safety Fire Science

Environment Division Engineering Division Division

J.E. Hill D.D. Evans R.G. Gann

Chief Chief Chief

• Thermal • Fire Modeling • Smoke

Machinery & Applications Dynamics

• Mechanical • Large Fire Research

Systems & Research • Materials Fire

Controls Research

• Heat Transfer • Fire Sensing &

• Computer - Extinguishment

Integrated

Construction

• Indoor Air

Quality

Provides the national laboratory concerned with enhancing the 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; 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 1 974, 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 N1ST Authorizing Act of FY 1 986.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory

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 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, life-cycle costing, multi-criteria decision analysis and

econometrics to evaluate new technologies, processes, govemment

programs, legislation and codes and standards to determine efficient

altematives.

OFFICE OF COOPERATIVE RESEARCH: 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 intemational private organizations; and

develops cooperative research programs with other federal agencies

and agencies of foreign govemments.

STRUCTURES DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. S. Sunder 301-975-6713)

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

foundatkjns 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 networi<s; development of technical criteria and methodologies for tfie strengthening and repair of structural memtjers and systems; characterization of normal and extreme loads on buildings during construction and in service; and investigatkxi of

important structural failures.

EARTHQUAKE ENGINEERING GROUP: Provides research data and technical support for the development and appfication of

seismic design and construction practices for new and existing

txiikJings and lifelines when activities include: laboratory and analytical

studies needed for improving codes and standards pertaining to new

constructron; the devetopment of criteria regarding the repair and

strengthening of existing structures; the devetopment of procedures to

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

construction practices in actual earthquakes; and technical support to

the National Earttiquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP).
Building and Fire Research Laboratory

BUILDING MATERIALS DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. Geoffrey J. Frohnsdorff,

301 -975-6706)

Advances construction materials science and teclinology 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 constmction materials testing, the development of

national and intemational standards and the advancement of

construction materials technology; manages the AASHTO and

ASTM-sponsored 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 intemational 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 intemational 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 thermophysical 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 performance 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-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.
r BFRL jOrganization

A

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING

DIVISION

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

Performs research on and develops engineering metliods 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 techniques 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.

LARGE FIRE RESEARCH GROUP: Perfomis 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, thermal and chemical emissions and transport

processes; developing techniques for computer simulation; developing field measurement techniques to assess the near- and

far-field impact of large fires and their plumes; perfonning research on the use of combustion for environmental 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 buming of fumiture, 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 SCIENCE DIVISION

(Chief: Dr. Richard G. Gann,

301-975-6864)

Performs research on and develops scientific and engineering

understanding 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 buming of polymeric materials; and develops science and predictive

methods to enable high-performance fire detection and suppression

systems.

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.

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 developing

performance measures for the effectiveness of suppression system

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

flammablllty; 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.
For Additional information, contact:

Dr. Andrew J. Fowell

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

Telephone: (301)975-6865

Facsimile: (301)975-4737

E-mail: andrew.fowell@nist.gov