AN ASSESSMENT OF THE 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS 

AND TECHNOLOGY 

BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH 

LABORATORY 

FISCAL YEAR 2008 

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE 

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS 

AND TECHNOLOGY 

BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH 

LABORATORY 

FISCAL YEAR 2008 

Panel on Building and Fire Research 

Laboratory Assessments Board 

Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences 

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 

Washington, D.C. 

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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board 

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Medicine. The members of the panel responsible for the report were chosen for their special 

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This study was supported by Contract No. SB134106Z0011 between the National Academy 

of Sciences and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the U.S. 

Department of Commerce. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations 

expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views 

of the agency that provided support for the project. 

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www.national-academies.org 
PANEL ON BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH 

ROBERT J. HITCHCOCK, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Chair

RONALD G. BURG, CTL Group 

MARTIN FISCHER, Stanford University 

CATHERINE E. WOLFGRAM FRENCH, University of Minnesota 

KRISTIN H. HEINEMEIER, University of California, Davis 

PATRICK J. HUGHES, Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

CLAS A. JACOBSON, United Technologies Research Center 

CLIFF JONES, City of Tempe, Arizona 

JOHN JUDGE, Liebert-Emerson Network Power 

PAULO J.M. MONTEIRO, University of California, Berkeley 

R. SHANKAR NAIR, Teng and Associates, Inc. 

R. BYRON PIPES, Purdue University 

LLOYD M. ROBESON, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (retired) 

ADEL F. SAROFIM, University of Utah 

RICHARD E. SCHULER, Cornell University 

RICHARD L. TUCKER, University of Texas 

STEVEN R. WINKEL, The Preview Group, Inc. 

ANTENEH Z. WORKU, Dow Chemical Company 

Staff 

JAMES P. McGEE, Director 

ARUL MOZHI, Senior Program Officer 

CY BUTNER, Senior Program Officer 

LIZA HAMILTON, Administrative Coordinator 

JONATHAN ELLSAESSER, Senior Project Assistant 

iv 
Acknowledgment of Reviewers 

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their 

diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by 

the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this 

independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the 

institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the 

report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the 

study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect 

the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for 

their review of this report: 

Melvyn C. Branch, University of Colorado, 

John T. Christian, Consulting Engineer, 

Richard G. Little, University of Southern California, 

James E. McGrath, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 

John W. Mitchell, University of Wisconsin, and 

Richard N. Wright, National Institute of Standards and Technology (retired). 

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments 

and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor 

did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was 

overseen by Alton Slay, Warrenton, Virginia. Appointed by the National Research 

Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this 

report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review 

comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report 

rests entirely with the authoring panel and the institution.

v 

Contents 

SUMMARY 1 

THE CHARGE TO THE PANEL AND THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS 5 

MEASUREMENT SCIENCE FOR BUILDING ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES 8 

MEASUREMENT SCIENCE FOR BREAKTHROUGH IMPROVEMENTS IN 

CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY 14 

MEASUREMENT SCIENCE FOR PREDICTING LIFE CYCLE PERFORMANCE 

 OF NANOCOMPOSITE INFRASTRUCTURE MATERIALS 19 

DISASTER RESILIENT STRUCTURES AND COMMUNITIES 

 (HURRICANES AND EARTHQUAKES) 23 

DISASTER RESILIENT STRUCTURES AND COMMUNITIES (FIRES) 29 

PROGRAMS FUNDED UNDER THE AMERICA COMPETES ACT 37 

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS 40

vii 

Summary 

A panel of experts appointed by the National Research Council (NRC)—the Panel 

on Building and Fire Research—has assessed the scientific and technical work of the 

Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) of the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST). The panel visited the laboratory and reviewed its activities. As 

requested by the Director of NIST and described further in the next chapter on the charge 

to the panel and its assessment process, the scope of the assessment included the 

following criteria: (1) the technical merit of the current laboratory programs relative to 

the current state of the art worldwide; (2) the adequacy of the laboratory facilities, 

equipment, and human resources, as they affect the quality of the laboratory technical 

programs; and (3) the degree to which the laboratory programs in measurement science 

and standards achieve their stated objectives and desired impact. In addition to these 

three criteria, the panel was asked by the Director of NIST to assess the projects within 

the BFRL conducted under the America COMPETES Act of 2007, which supports the 

President’s American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI).1

 That work focuses on disasterresilient structures and communities, including efforts related to hurricanes, wildland 

fires, and earthquakes (including community-scale loss estimation). Following is a brief 

summary of the panel’s conclusions, based on its assessment using these criteria. 

TECHNICAL MERIT RELATIVE TO STATE OF THE ART 

Overall the technical merit of the programs reviewed within the BFRL is very 

high and generally at a state-of-the-art level. The programs have clear ties to the overall 

BFRL Strategic Priority Areas and are well aligned with the mission of NIST, which is to 

promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement 

science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve 

our quality of life. Technical quality is demonstrated by the acceptance of submissions to 

high-impact publications and the adoption of technical results and findings in codes and 

standards. The publications that document results from the laboratory receive extensive 

internal review before their submission for publication. With few exceptions, the BFRL 

staff who were reviewed by the panel are fully aware of work being done elsewhere and 

have exceptional links with the external community, demonstrated by membership and 

active participation in professional and trade committees and on codes and standards 

development bodies. There is good balance in BFRL work between anticipatory, longerterm research and activities that respond to the immediate needs of customers. 

. 

ADEQUACY OF INFRASTRUCTURE 

The equipment and facilities supporting current BFRL work are excellent and, 

except for specifically noted cases (the large-scale structural fire test facility and 

 1

 See Domestic Policy Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2006, American 

Competitiveness Initiative, Washington, D.C. “America COMPETES Act” is the short title for the America 

Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act of 

2007 (Public Law 110-69). 

1 
construction productivity metrics work space), do not appear to be a limiting factor. For 

virtually all of the research reviewed there is either adequate laboratory equipment and 

very impressive laboratory facilities or current planning to make appropriate additions to 

the current facilities. The updating and modernizing of NIST-related test equipment and 

procedures must continuously be considered. In the area of structural engineering 

(disaster-resilient structures and communities), the BFRL has moved away from 

experimentation and is outsourcing some experiments. For outsourcing, planning should 

be put in place to establish requirements for the adequate control and oversight of the 

quality of experimental measurements. 

The BFRL staff has a critical mass of scientific and technical competencies and is 

well qualified to conduct the programs underway. However, it is short-staffed in several 

areas if it is to achieve the full potential of current and planned future efforts. There are 

serious concerns relative to the attracting, recruiting, training, and retaining of staff for 

future needs. A plan needs to be developed to address present and future staffing needs, 

mentoring and staff development, retention strategies, technical and project management 

training, and the provision of the human resources (HR) support necessary to implement 

the plan without unduly taxing the time of scientific personnel. While recruiting specific 

qualified individuals will require contacts from scientific personnel, HR can support 

regular recruitment activities at national meetings of relevant societies and learn the 

processes of other industries (e.g., the more widespread use of recruiters). Also, help is 

needed from HR, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Congress in opening 

opportunities to noncitizens (such as permanent residents). 

There has been a significant change in personnel over the past 3 years, in 

particular in technical leadership positions within the BFRL. It is not clear that there have 

been systematic development opportunities to prepare individuals for this transition. The 

backgrounds of the staff at the BFRL are highly technical, and training in technical 

program management principles may be warranted. 

Available funding, at least prospectively, appears adequate for success in most 

current areas of work if the funding materializes. The laboratory’s base funding from 

Congress provides a foundation for sustaining programs comparable to the funding for 

most federally sponsored research institutions. Base funding has grown modestly every 

year since fiscal year (FY) 2002, and based on the American Competitiveness Initiative, 

the America COMPETES Act, and planned administration requests, there appears to be a 

very positive prospect of doubling base funding over 10 years. Some areas in which the 

BFRL is already involved could be more effectively addressed, given additional funding. 

For example, national economic opportunities and global environmental threats justify 

considerably more funding on energy-related work. 

ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES AND IMPACT 

The BFRL has a strong foundation and record of excellent results in achieving 

program objectives and disseminating research results and findings. BFRL researchers 

are active participants in major professional and trade organizations and on standards and 

code-setting committees, with demonstrated success in moving research results to 

standards and codes. Product dissemination is accomplished through numerous channels, 

including professional publications and conferences, industry materials such as training 

2 
manuals, and Web sites. 

The panel was presented with a clear articulation of the mission and of the 

strategic directions for the BFRL. However, this strategic vision is not always 

complemented by detailed roadmaps and associated metrics that can be used to evaluate 

progress. At the present time, it appears that the achievement of stated objectives is 

mainly assessed by monitoring program progress against program-developed milestones. 

This process may be effective on a project-by-project basis but may be insufficient as an 

effective methodology for assessing a group of projects that have interdependent 

objectives related to larger strategic goals for the BFRL. The BFRL should consider 

adopting more formal project management techniques that are commonly used in 

industry. 

PROGRAMS FUNDED UNDER THE AMERICA COMPETES ACT 

The BFRL sees Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Hurricanes and 

Earthquakes) as a key focus area for addressing the objectives of the ACI and the 

America COMPETES Act. In FY 2008, the funding levels in the BFRL were not 

increased as had been anticipated. As a result, the programs in this area have suffered 

from lack of adequate support. These programs are only now taking shape. 

NIST assumed leadership of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program 

(NEHRP) in 2005; however, the effort appears to be early in its development stages 

within NIST. The program has strong leadership and good overall perspective on 

direction and objectives. In terms of progress on earthquake-related issues within NIST, 

there has been limited technical progress. Staffing and integration with other BFRL 

projects (multi-hazard projects) still need to be addressed. Care should be taken that the 

role of the overall management responsibility for NEHRP does not interfere with the 

NIST technical programs associated with earthquake engineering. 

The extent of damage from wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires has grown as a 

result of increased construction at the interface, which in turn has been aggravated where 

weather is hotter and drier. The BFRL is uniquely qualified to address the many facets of 

the WUI fires, drawing on the laboratory’s competencies in characterizing and modeling 

fire spread in buildings, its large-scale fire facilities, its extensive connections in the fire 

community internationally, and its expertise in deriving lessons from fire investigations. 

The skills demonstrated in the investigations of the World Trade Center (WTC) building 

collapse and the Warwick, Rhode Island, Station nightclub fire make the engagement 

with the WUI situation timely and potent. 

The panel’s recommendations relative to the WUI fire research in support of the 

ACI are twofold. The first is to prepare technology roadmaps that clearly indicate the use 

of additional funding for the BFRL and state with precision and rigor what milestones are 

being targeted and what stakeholders will be affected. The BFRL should fully embrace 

technical portfolio management tools and processes that are routinely employed in 

industry, including processes for project management (e.g., the Stage-Gate product 

innovation process) and elements of the Design for Six Sigma paradigm (a method for 

eliminating defects in processes) to quantify the necessary robustness of the research 

results in order to ensure their transition to industrial practice. Secondly, the BFRL 

should also move aggressively beyond the characterization of components to the full 

3 
consideration of systems, particularly as characterized by the very successful past work 

for the WTC and what is clearly emerging for the WUI area. The focus on systems is 

critical to the science of measurement and U.S. competitiveness. The BFRL should 

employ new technologies from systems engineering and dynamical systems and should 

make full use of advances in information technology. 

The remaining chapters of this report contain a more detailed description of the 

charge to the panel and its assessment process and present detailed assessment findings 

within each of five Strategic Priority Areas that organize the research programs within 

the BFRL into core competency areas aligned with high-level BFRL goals. The five 

Strategic Priority Areas are (1) Measurement Science for Building Energy Technologies, 

(2) Measurement Science for Breakthrough Improvements in Construction Productivity, 

(3) Measurement Science for Predicting Life Cycle Performance of Nanocomposite 

Infrastructure Materials, (4) Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Hurricanes 

and Earthquakes), and (5) Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Fires). A 

separate chapter on “Programs Funded Under the America COMPETES Act” is included 

to examine and review the progress of all of the FY 2007-funded initiatives relevant to 

the BFRL and to comment on these program growth areas explicitly in this report. The 

report concludes with a chapter presenting the overall conclusions of the panel. 

4 
The Charge to the Panel and the Assessment Process 

 At the request of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National 

Academies, through the National Research Council, has since 1959 annually assembled 

panels of experts from academia, industry, medicine, and other scientific and engineering 

environments to assess the quality and effectiveness of the NIST measurements and 

standards laboratories, of which there are now nine,2 as well as the adequacy of the 

laboratories’ resources. In 2008, NIST requested that five of its laboratories be assessed: 

the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, 

the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, the NIST Center for Neutron 

Research, and the Physics Laboratory. Each laboratory was assessed by a separate panel 

of experts; the findings of the respective panels are summarized in separate reports. This 

report summarizes the findings of the Panel on Building and Fire Research. 

 For the FY 2008 assessment, NIST requested that the panel consider the 

following criteria as part of its assessment: 

1. The technical merit of the current laboratory programs relative to the current 

 state of the art worldwide; 

2. The adequacy of the laboratory facilities, equipment, and human resources, as 

 they affect the quality of the laboratory technical programs; and 

3. The degree to which the laboratory programs in measurement science and 

 standards achieve their stated objectives and desired impact. 

The panel adopted the following additional assessment criteria under each broad 

factor to make them more explicit: 

1. The technical merit of the current laboratory programs relative to the current 

 state of the art worldwide. 

y Relative Technical Caliber: How does the technical quality of the laboratory 

 compare to current state-of-the-art capabilities worldwide? 

y Relevance: Do the projects reflect a broad understanding of comparable work 

being done elsewhere (at other government laboratories, universities, and 

industry)? 

y Balance: Does the laboratory adequately balance anticipatory, longer-term 

research and activities that respond to immediate customer needs? 

2. The adequacy of the laboratory facilities, equipment, and human resources, as 

 they affect the quality of the laboratory technical programs. 

y Available Tools: Is the state of the equipment and facilities adequate to meet 

project objectives and customer needs? 

y Critical Mass: Are the available scientific and technical competencies 

 adequate to achieve success? Is available funding adequate to achieve 

 2

 The nine NIST laboratories are the Building and Fire Research Laboratory, the Center for 

Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, the Electronics and 

Electrical Engineering Laboratory, the Information Technology Laboratory, the Manufacturing Engineering 

Laboratory, the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, the NIST Center for Neutron Research, and 

the Physics Laboratory. 

5 
 success? 

y Agility: Is the laboratory sustaining the technical competencies and capacity 

to respond quickly to critical issues as they arise? 

3. The degree to which the laboratory programs in measurement science and 

 standards achieve their stated objectives and desired impact. 

y Technical Planning: Are appropriate milestones identified and do they 

appear feasible? 

y Dissemination: Is the laboratory regularly implementing sound and effective 

techniques and practices for delivering products and services to customers? 

y Impact: Will the laboratory products have a consequential, long-term impact? 

y Responsiveness: Are the research projects moving at a pace and in a direction 

that is well matched to current and emerging customer needs? 

In addition, because NIST has begun to receive increases in funding through the 

President’s ACI and the America COMPETES Act of 2007, the Director of NIST 

requested that the assessment panels specifically examine and review the progress of all 

of the FY 2007-funded initiatives relevant to their respective laboratories and comment 

on these program growth areas explicitly in their reports. At the BFRL, that work focuses 

on disaster-resilient structures and communities, including efforts related to hurricanes, 

wildland fires, and earthquakes (including community-scale loss estimation). 

Specifically, the panel was asked to examine and review progress on the following 

growth areas: the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, wind engineering, 

multi-hazard failure analysis, and fires at the wildland-urban interface. 

The context of this technical assessment is the mission of NIST, which is to 

promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement 

science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve 

the quality of life. The NIST laboratories conduct research to anticipate future metrology 

and standards needs, to enable new scientific and technological advances, and to improve 

and refine existing measurement methods and services. 

To accomplish the assessment, the NRC appointed a panel of 18 volunteers whose 

expertise closely matched that of the work performed by the BFRL staff. On the basis of 

their own individual expertise areas, the panel members were also assigned to five 

Strategic Priority Areas that organized the research programs within the BFRL into core 

competency areas aligned with high-level BFRL goals. The five Strategic Priority Areas 

are (1) Measurement Science for Building Energy Technologies, (2) Measurement 

Science for Breakthrough Improvements in Construction Productivity, (3) Measurement 

Science for Predicting Life Cycle Performance of Nanocomposite Infrastructure 

Materials, (4) Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Hurricanes and 

Earthquakes), and (5) Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Fires). The BFRL 

Web site provides additional information on BFRL programs.3

 

 Each of the panel’s Strategic Priority Area subgroups separately visited the BFRL 

staff working in its respective area for 1 day, during which it attended presentations, 

tours, and demonstrations and had a number of interactive sessions with the staff. These 

 3

 See http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/ for more information on BFRL programs. Accessed August 12, 

2008. 

6 
reviews were conducted at the NIST facilities in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on March 18, 

2008. Immediately following the subgroup visits, the entire panel assembled for a dayand-a-half meeting at the BFRL facility in Gaithersburg; during that time it attended 

interactive sessions with the laboratory managers, and the panel also met in a closed 

session to deliberate its findings and to define the contents of this assessment report. 

 The BFRL provided the panel with background materials, including a recent 

BFRL annual report; information on the BFRL budget, staffing, awards, and standards 

activities; a BFRL organizational chart; the NIST programmatic plan for FY 2009-2011; 

and a list of BFRL publications for FY 2007. BFRL staff also set up a Web site for panel 

members that provided additional links to further reference materials. 

 The approach of the panel to the assessment relied on the experience, technical 

knowledge, and expertise of its members, whose backgrounds were carefully matched to 

the technical areas within which the BFRL activities are conducted. The panel reviewed 

selected examples of the standards and measurements activities and the technological 

research presented by the BFRL. It was not possible to review the BFRL programs and 

projects exhaustively. The goal of the panel was to identify and report representative 

examples of accomplishments and to highlight opportunities for further improvement 

with respect to the technical merit of the BFRL work and its perceived impact with 

respect to achieving its own definition of its objectives, and to highlight specific elements 

of the resources and infrastructure within BFRL that are intended to support the technical 

work. These highlighted examples for each BFRL Strategic Priority Area are intended to 

collectively portray an overall impression of the laboratory, while preserving useful 

mention of specific suggestions for projects and programs that the panel considered to be 

of special note within the set of those examined. The assessment is currently scheduled 

to be repeated biennially. While the panel applied a largely qualitative rather than a 

quantitative approach to the assessment, it is possible that future assessments will be 

informed by further consideration of various analytical methods that can be applied. 

The comments in this report are not intended to address each program within the 

BFRL exhaustively. Instead, this report identifies key issues and focuses on 

representative programs and projects relevant to those issues. Given the necessarily 

nonexhaustive nature of the review process, the omission of any particular BFRL 

program or project should not be interpreted as a negative reflection on the omitted 

program or project. 

7 
Measurement Science for Building Energy Technologies 

The primary core competency for this Strategic Priority Area is measurement 

science for building energy technologies. Secondary core competencies for this area 

include information, communication, and automation technologies for the intelligent 

integration of building design, construction, and operations. 

Areas of expertise within this Strategic Priority Area include energy efficiency, 

renewable and distributed energy sources, indoor air quality, building controls, 

alternative refrigerants, economics, the behavioral response of occupants, and codes and 

standards. The BFRL divisions that are active in this area are the Building Environment 

Division (BED) and the Office of Applied Economics (OAE). Groups within the BED 

include HVAC&R (heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, and refrigerating) Equipment 

Performance, Heat Transfer and Alternative Energy Systems, Mechanical Systems and 

Controls, Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation, and Computer-Integrated Building 

Processes. The primary BFRL goal in this strategic area is net zero, high-performance 

buildings, with programs in healthy and sustainable buildings and cybernetic building 

systems. 

 

TECHNICAL MERIT RELATIVE TO STATE OF THE ART 

The technical caliber of the programs in the Measurement Science for Building 

Energy Technologies strategic area is high. The areas of emphasis are very advanced and 

show both vision and mastery of the technologies involved. Examples include the 

following: (1) the new 90 K-900 K guarded hot plate apparatus for heat transmission 

measurements and the development of reference materials; (2) the facilities to sort out 

building integrated photovoltaic (PV) ratings; (3) the emulation facilities to test fault 

detection and diagnostics (FDD) tools; (4) the laser/photography/computational fluid 

dynamics approach to heat exchanger air-side maldistribution measurements; and (5) the 

lubricant luminescence measurement technique that established an understanding of how 

seeding nanoparticles into lubricant on the refrigerant side of a chiller can radically 

improve boiling heat transfer rates. 

In FY 2007, the Building Environment Division produced numerous publications 

in professional journals, conference proceedings papers, NIST publications, and external 

reports. Technical staff members are engaged and influential in the American Society of 

Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the International 

Institute of Refrigeration, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and 

ASTM (formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials), including a 

number of leadership positions at ASHRAE such as vice president, chair of the Standing 

Standard Project Committee (SSPC) 62.2 ventilation standards, and leadership within the 

research administration committee. 

Generally the Building Environment Division projects tie to Measurement 

Science for Building Energy Technologies. The BFRL is most effective when it 

contributes measurement science to collaborations involving larger projects. 

Measurement science includes tools (e.g., algorithms and software) that enable 

collaborators to access the measurement science and to apply standards based on this 

information. Software development can become very resource-intensive, and so it is 

8 
important to keep a balanced focus that favors the development of measurement science 

over software development. In general, the projects within the BFRL maintain this 

balance. 

With few exceptions, staff members are aware of work being done elsewhere. The 

Heat Pump Simulation Program appears to duplicate some of the capabilities of the 

widely used Heat Pump Design Model from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which 

has been available in Web-based versions for over a decade. Collaboration in cases such 

as this would strengthen each program and would avoid duplication of effort and 

resources. 

Regarding the balancing of anticipatory, longer-term research with the activities 

that respond to immediate customer needs, the NIST Three-Year Programmatic Plan (FY 

2009-2011) states: “Although NIST has not set a formal goal for the funding of high-risk 

basic research, NIST will invest approximately 12 percent of our R&D budget on highrisk research in FY 2008—a level that has been fairly consistent through the years. 

Increases requested in the President’s FY 2009 budget would increase the support at 

NIST for high-risk research to 17.8 percent of NIST’s research budget.”4 Compared to 

the overall budget allocation at NIST, the research in the building energy technologies 

area is more applied than basic, and, not surprisingly, no projects were found that were of 

significantly high risk. It is arguable that there was some risk that the lubricant 

luminescence measurement approach would not work in the nanofluid project. 

The development of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) can clearly be a unifying 

goal in the Measurement Science for Building Energy Technologies strategic area. The 

BFRL is doing an excellent job of working on both the near-term and the long-term 

technologies that are needed to move toward this goal. The importance of the work with 

FDD, controls, and the commissioning of buildings should not be underestimated. Much 

can be learned from this work about real-world relevance and issues and the development 

of standards for measurement that can also impact codes. The laboratory’s work with 

FDD in residential units is novel and is well considered. Its past work with BACnet 

showed a very unique capacity to work with industry and in doing so to move industry in 

a completely new direction, which has led to open standards for building management 

systems and has increased the overall competitive position of the United States. (BACnet 

is a data communication protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks.) This 

same thinking should be applied to FDD and sensor networks and the overall technology 

foundations of NZEB. 

Staff from the OAE play a crucial role within the BFRL, and to a lesser extent 

across other laboratories at NIST, in addressing questions of how measurement and 

standards information can be assembled and integrated to facilitate industry decisions 

and/or actions. In particular, this group has drawn from the latest available tools in the 

decision sciences to assist the BFRL in selecting which projects to pursue, to facilitate 

industrywide best practices in the selection of particular construction materials and 

systems (e.g., the busiBEES project, which investigates sustainability and carbon 

footprint metrics), and to predict the likely human response to the introduction of new 

 4

 National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2008, Three-year Programmatic Plan for the 

National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce: Fiscal Years 2009-2011, 

Washington, D.C., February 2, p. 9-41. 

9 
options and opportunities. In this last area there may be further opportunities to advance 

the state of understanding by, as an example, using techniques such as “real options” 

analysis to mirror actual human behavior that seems at odds with traditional choice 

models based on expected net present value estimates. 

ADEQUACY OF INFRASTRUCTURE 

Equipment and facilities supporting this strategic area were excellent and did not 

appear to be a limiting factor. All research being conducted at the BFRL in support of 

this strategic area has adequate laboratory equipment and very impressive laboratory 

facilities. 

The BFRL has a critical mass of scientific and technical competencies in 

emerging building technologies and their measurement science needs. However, it is 

short-staffed in several areas (e.g., in the Mechanical Systems and Controls Group and 

the Heat Transfer and Alternative Energy Systems Group). The team investigating 

measurements of hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cells to characterize their 

suitability for backup power generation applications did not appear to be addressing 

reactive power, perhaps due to a lack of expertise in electrical engineering power on the 

team. Within the Mechanical Systems and Controls Group, a key researcher with 

significant expertise in FDD has left, and progress against the project milestones is 

currently constrained by the temporary staffing shortage. 

The BFRL is experiencing difficulty in filling open positions. Staffing in energyrelated fields is a problem industrywide, so NIST will have to compete with other entities 

in attracting staff. However, the BFRL needs to be much more innovative in recruiting 

and pulling especially from other industries (e.g., information technology, computer 

science) and learning from their processes for recruiting (e.g., more widespread use of 

recruiters). Recruiting and filling the open positions as well as overall staff development 

are key problems for the laboratory. 

The Office of Applied Economics has had great difficulty historically in finding 

and recruiting highly trained economists who also have the knowledge base and the 

specific interest in technological detail to contribute effectively to the mission of the 

BFRL. The paucity of such economists and behavioral scientists has diminished slightly 

over the past several years. This may have occurred in part because Ph.D. programs in 

universities in the United States have become slightly less compartmentalized, and 

academic economic research has begun to employ numerical and experimental methods 

as well as traditional statistical tools, so its practitioners may have more avenues to 

interface with natural and physical scientists. The OAE has also begun to recruit at 

national conferences of the prominent economics societies. This approach of conducting 

wide searches paid a special dividend this year, resulting in the hiring of two new Ph.D. 

economists who significantly strengthen the OAE. Continuing this widespread search 

process annually is crucial for the long-run health of the office: even if the search in a 

particular year is not successful, the interview and recruitment process disseminates 

knowledge throughout the economics community about the laboratory and about the 

important and interesting work that is going on. 

Available funding, at least prospectively, appears to be adequate for successful 

research at the BFRL in measurement science for building energy technologies if it 

10 
materializes. Overall for the BFRL, about two-thirds of the funding is base funding from 

Congress, which provides a foundation for sustaining programs comparable to most 

federally sponsored research institutions. The base funding has grown modestly every 

year since FY 2002, and based on the American Competitiveness Initiative, the America 

COMPETES Act, and planned administration requests, the prospect of doubling the base 

funding over a 10-year period appears very positive. 

Several examples within the Measurement Science for Building Energy 

Technologies strategic area illustrate the ability to provide a quick response to critical 

issues, supporting the conclusion that the competencies and the capacity for agility are 

being maintained. For example, when the best laboratories could do no better than +/–7 

percent, +/–12 percent, and +/–16 percent in round-robin measurement of the efficiency 

of solar conversion to power of crystalline, single-junction thin film, and multi-junction 

thin film PV modules, NIST was able to mount a program quickly to help resolve the 

problem. The lack of repeatability and comparability in volatile organic compound 

outgassing measurements for carpets and other building materials and the consequent 

BFRL response to this issue provide another example of the capability of the laboratory 

to respond to issues quickly and competently. The BFRL has a history of being able to 

respond quickly to issues that have arisen (e.g., the Indoor Air Quality Group’s work on 

generators with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission). 

ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES AND IMPACT 

The BFRL has a strong foundation and record of excellent results in the building 

energy technologies area. Noteworthy examples include the development of BACnet, the 

application of novel optimization methods for HVAC&R equipment, and the work on the 

guarded hot plate. Each of these projects and many others embody the best in measurement science being applied to areas of critical interest to the nation. 

The 23 projects conducted at BFRL under the Measurement Science for Building 

Energy Technologies strategic area all identified milestones that appeared feasible and 

clearly define the obstacles and the research challenges. The project descriptions 

provided a technical approach and resource requirements that are necessary to achieve the 

project objectives. The investigators for each project were identified, and cross-project 

connections were made where appropriate. 

The project investigators in this strategic area regularly publish their results, and, 

more importantly, many of the projects have industry and university involvement and the 

project staff is active in outside organizations (ASHRAE, ASTM, and others) and their 

key technical committees. All of these linkages help disseminate and implement the 

research results. 

There is a history within the BFRL of having a consequential, long-term impact—

for example, HVAC communications harmonization via BACnet. Some current research 

areas certainly have the potential to have similar or greater impact in the future. For 

example, now that the value of retrocommissioning is gaining acceptance there is also 

growing awareness that benefits decay, and the process needs to be redone periodically. 

NIST has recognized that FDD implemented with sufficient embedded intelligence could 

capture the financial benefits and sustain them through continuous commissioning, 

without periodic manual “re-dos,” and has initiated work in this important area. The 

11 
laboratory is extremely well positioned to have a consequential, long-term impact on the 

advancement of NZEB; however, the leadership will have to plan and act strategically to 

develop the measurement science necessary to enable technology developments in this 

area. The laboratory should be planning for (and is planning with the Department of 

Energy) a large effort to define the path to NZEB and to insert the technology 

development effort resulting from the investments in building energy technology into this 

larger plan. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The economic opportunities and the environmental threats in the strategic area of 

Measurement Science for Building Energy Technologies justify considerably higher 

investment levels on energy-related work. BACnet is just one example of technology in 

a field where increased funding would yield significant energy benefits to the nation. By 

developing a globally recognized standard for building management systems, the team 

within the BFRL has already achieved results that will allow significant energy savings 

that enable other benefits from increased integration (a systems issue) across building 

subsystems. Leveraging this past success and accelerating it would enable the rapid 

advancement of FDD, automated commissioning, and the creation of standardized 

building components (e.g., variable frequency drives). In the energy-efficiency and 

environmentally acceptable areas of investments, it is also important to understand why 

and how potential developers and users respond to information, prices, and incentives, 

and to formulate procedures and implementation systems that have a high probability of 

success. 

There is a concern that impending retirements of key staff, coupled with the 

significant recruiting challenges discussed above, will severely undermine the primary 

strength of the BFRL, which is its people. NIST should examine ways in which the 

Human Resources organization can help the BFRL recruit needed talent and develop 

effective succession plans. The importance of maintaining a cadre of appropriate 

expertise at the BFRL cannot be overemphasized. The focus on staffing is necessary to 

maintain the high quality of the BFRL staff and also to permit highly valuable 

investigators to focus on research rather than on recruitment activities. 

Roadmaps for building energy technologies measurement sciences and standards 

should be developed and implemented, and a process for regularly updating them should 

be defined and tracked. The roadmaps should anticipate what will be needed in U.S. 

buildings over the next 10 to 20 years. Examples of areas potentially requiring 

measurement science and the development of corresponding standards include the 

following: advanced energy-efficiency technologies of all varieties; smart grid integration 

with intelligent buildings; cooling, heating, and power systems of all varieties and size 

ranges; building-integrated photovoltaic cells; small-building-scale wind turbines; fuel 

cells; green building materials; and residential automation systems are among a range of 

technologies that the BFRL needs to be aware of and in selected cases needs to nurture. 

In all cases, awareness of the impact on codes and standards for energy efficiency should 

be maintained. 

A clear strategic link should be made between several existing research areas 

(e.g., FDD, commissioning, controls, life cycle assessment, and alternative energy 

12 
systems) and the NZEB goals. A strategy should be developed to have a measurable 

impact in this area (including development of specific interim and long-term [2020 or 

2030] goals, scenario development, and the establishment of strategic partnering with 

universities and national laboratories in the United States and key partner countries, 

specifically including India and China). 

Economics considerations should continue to be integrated within the technical 

work, because economic issues are often the barriers to technical innovation. For 

example, in scenarios for carbon footprint estimations, the BFRL is doing an excellent 

job of estimating the impacts of given energy-use reductions, but a strong link has not 

been made to the kinds of reductions that are ultimately possible, nor have the sometimes 

slow responses by the highly fragmented building industry and its customers been 

factored in to informational and implementation strategies. 

The laboratory should accelerate field tests and demonstrations of all technologies 

(especially the work on FDD tools and sensor networks) even if they have to come at the 

expense of developing new tools. There is considerable benefit to the experience that 

will be obtained in field trials for the maturation and the transition of technology to 

industry. Field trial results can also be used to drive future technology investments, and 

the lack of the use of demonstrations is currently the barrier to a number of technologies 

being successfully transitioned to industry. The use of such processes as Stage-Gate for 

project management would bring out more clearly the role and the timing and the 

investments needed for effective field trial work. The field work will serve current 

stakeholder needs, help further develop BFRL’s understanding of stakeholder needs, and 

help move BFRL technologies into the market more quickly. Technology evolution 

scenarios (i.e., how current technologies will grow into advanced new technologies) need 

attention, and the focus on developing investable roadmaps will assist in such scenario 

planning. Attempts to secure more direct industry funding to maximize the relevance of 

current work (e.g., heat exchanger optimization, nanoparticles for refrigerants, FDD) 

should be a focus of the laboratory. 

13 
Measurement Science for Breakthrough Improvements in 

Construction Productivity 

The primary core competencies for the Strategic Priority Area of Construction 

Productivity are information, communication, and automation technologies for the 

intelligent integration of building design, construction, and operations. 

Areas of expertise within this Strategic Priority Area include construction 

metrology, sensing and control technologies, and economics. The BFRL divisions active 

in this area are the Materials and Construction Research Division (MCRD), the Building 

Environment Division (BED), and the Office of Applied Economics (OAE). The active 

groups include the Construction Metrology and Automation Group in the MCRD and the 

Computer Integrated Building Processes Group in the BED. The primary BFRL goal in 

this strategic area is High Performance Construction Materials and Systems, and the key 

program is Construction Integration and Automation Technologies. 

TECHNICAL MERIT RELATIVE TO STATE OF THE ART 

Construction productivity is a very appropriate Strategic Priority Area for the 

BFRL. Construction industry productivity has generally declined over time, especially 

relative to other U.S. industries of comparable scale. The BFRL focus on measurement 

science in this area is appropriate because of the credibility of NIST in this area, the 

existing interfaces that NIST has with other organizations, its staff capabilities, the 

multiyear approaches that are necessary to have significant impact on this industry 

segment, and the rapid and fragmented nature of technology development in the building 

industry at large. By advancing measurement methods and related technologies, the 

BFRL work is a critical enabler of the adoption of performance-based standards in 

industry. Without such standardized and validated measurement methods and 

technologies, the introduction of performance-based standards will not occur on a large 

scale. The widespread adoption of performance-based standards is, therefore, vital to 

making the built environment more sustainable. 

The specific activities of the BFRL in this Strategic Priority Area are fundamental 

to improving construction industry productivity and ambitious in their scope. If these 

activities are successful, they have the potential to achieve very large improvements in 

construction productivity; however, these activities, which befit the NIST mission, are 

relatively long range in nature. In the area of metrics for construction productivity, it is 

likely that the BFRL can continue to exploit its relationship with the Bureau of Labor 

Statistics (BLS) and the BLS data-gathering capabilities to expand the ability to correlate 

a myriad of variables and provide valuable industry insights. The BFRL work to 

establish standardized productivity measurement methods at the project and task level 

(e.g., methods to determine the quantities installed in an hour, during a task, or in a day) 

is well conceived and should continue or even be accelerated. The laboratory and field 

work (e.g., in Lansing) are excellent. 

The real-time sensing and control efforts at the BFRL are well defined and 

implemented. They focus on the development of test methods for high-precision 

calibrations and standards development. The laboratory’s indoor facility for testing 

14 
three-dimensional imaging systems and developing synthetic data sets using standardized 

artifacts (e.g., spheres and patterned disks) can be used for measuring the performance of 

construction site object-recognition technologies. This facility provides a strong initial 

effort and basis for future interlaboratory cooperation and the evolution of protocols. A 

strong technical basis has been developed, and promising progress is being made. 

The development of an Intelligent and Automated Construction Job Site Testbed 

is underway at the BFRL; it is a natural extension of the three-dimensional imaging 

systems activity. The testbed development will be an evolutionary process in partnership 

with industry and academia and will be phased, first with an indoor testbed, followed by 

an outdoor testbed. The initial planning and conceptual thinking have been accomplished, and interfacing with other groups is underway. 

The development of the Virtual Project Data Integration Testbed is consistent 

with the other strategic priority activities and incorporates those activities into its process. 

It brings together the various project phases and participants into an integrated potential 

for data exchange and the full utilization of building models. 

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a potential breakthrough technology for 

improving construction productivity—and indeed productivity across the complete life 

cycle of a facility, from pre-design planning, through design, fabrication, construction, 

commissioning, and operations and maintenance. 

The ongoing work within the BFRL in this Strategic Priority Area is of very high 

technical merit. Staff is involved in virtually all of the BIM activities currently taking 

place in the United States (e.g., Fully Integrated and Automated Technologies 

[FIATECH], ASHRAE, and the International Alliance for Interoperability) and in 

international standards development activities (e.g., International Organization for 

Standardization [ISO]). 

BIM activities in which BFRL staff members are participating are producing real 

products that are being adopted by industry, which illustrates the technical quality, 

usefulness, and relevance of this work as well as the working relationships of NIST staff 

with industry. Examples of these products include the Automated Equipment 

Information Exchange tools and the CIMSteel Integration Standards (CIS/2) work that 

responds to and supports the near-term industry adoption of BIM technologies for steel 

fabrication and construction. BFRL staff efforts within ISO and ASHRAE reflect a 

commitment to long-term activities to continue the development, dissemination, and 

adoption of BIM technologies. The projects on Metrics and Tools for Construction 

Productivity and the Virtual Project Data Integration Testbed address the NIST goal of 

identifying critical measurement gaps that act as a barrier to innovation, and specifically 

the need for reliable and unbiased performance data to speed the adoption of new and 

innovative technologies in the building and construction sector. The BFRL has already 

had a major participatory role in the Construction Industry Institute (CII) Benchmarking 

and Metrics program, which is responsible for the largest public database on construction 

projects in the industry. 

ADEQUACY OF INFRASTRUCTURE 

BFRL facilities and equipment appear at the present time to be adequate for the 

work underway. However, the BFRL currently has limited resources for addressing all 

15 
productivity problems in a $1.4 trillion industry. Even though the space available for the 

work on the metrics for construction productivity has improved over the past years, NIST 

should find additional ways to further upgrade the space available for this work. 

A primary limitation in resources at the present time relates to staffing. Increased 

staffing with technical competencies in information modeling and standards committee 

participation is needed. If new hires can be attracted to the BFRL, additional funding 

will be needed to support and retain them. 

The advancement made in establishing the Intelligent and Automated Construction Job Site Research Testbed facility is noteworthy. This facility will become the 

testbed for new measurement science and is therefore critical to the BFRL’s future in this 

area. 

ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES AND IMPACT 

Active participation and leadership in organizations such as FIATECH, CII, 

ASHRAE, and ISO are effective dissemination channels for products from the BFRL 

work in this Strategic Priority Area. BFRL staff members are extremely well positioned 

to have a consequential long-term impact on the advancement of BIM. 

The researchers should develop better links to the software vendors who might 

develop tools for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating construction productivity 

measurements so that industry uptake of the methods developed at the BFRL can be 

quicker. Opportunities should also be explored for more collaboration with other 

laboratories at NIST on the productivity measurement methods concerning emerging 

large-scale problems, such as the state of the infrastructure in the United States, to see if 

this might drive the research agenda and focus. 

The BFRL work is critical to illuminating the underlying issues of construction 

productivity and to establishing a framework and specific measurements, including 

standard specifications for carrying out and reporting such measurements, at the project 

and task levels. A suggestion in this respect is to establish such measurements for the 

office work (design, detailing, construction management, coordination), for the work in 

the supply chain (fabrication), and for the work in construction and facility handover and 

start-up. Such a focus would enable the BFRL to establish a framework that is currently 

lacking for assessing the impact of automation and integration technologies on 

engineering and construction productivity. In the future, this work should extend to the 

establishment of standard methods to measure the life cycle impacts of the materials and 

processes used in construction. 

The recent success in several areas of work that have been ongoing for several 

years solidifies the good track record of the small, but productive BFRL team in this 

strategic area. These achievements include the following: 

y The Automated Equipment Information Exchange data exchange protocol is 

 now being adopted by industry (e.g., American Petroleum Institute, American 

Society for Manufacturing Engineers, Electric Power Research Institute, 

Hydraulic Institute, Institute for Nuclear Power Operations, and Process 

Industry Practices) for interoperable information representation and exchange. 

The laser-scanning work, in particular the walk-about scanning, holds great 

16 
promise to measure on-site production of physical work more rapidly and 

precisely in order to validate model-based design, detailing, planning, and 

coordination methods and to enhance safety on-site. 

y The BFRL/NIST report5 on the cost of the lack of interoperability in the 

facility and construction industry has been extremely well received. The 

BFRL should consider further development and testing of the method for 

measuring the impact of interoperability (including interfaces and interactions) 

and should determine and standardize the underlying measurement methods 

and overall framework. 

y The work at BFRL on the definition of model-based design and construction 

will also contribute significantly to the current discussion and adoption of 

building information modeling in the construction industry. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The ongoing work in this Strategic Priority Area of Measurement Science for 

Breakthrough Improvements in Construction Productivity within the BFRL offers the 

potential of very large improvements in industry productivity, is relatively long range in 

nature, and is befitting of the NIST mission. However, the phrase “construction 

productivity” may be a misleading rubric for this Strategic Priority Area, because the 

evolution and life cycle of a construction project involve many phases, including the 

definition of business need, facility planning, project planning, design and procurement, 

construction, start-up, commissioning, and operations. The overall measure of 

productivity involves much more than just the construction phase and is strongly 

dependent on the material/equipment/worker interface, which in turn requires flexible 

rules and regulations if it is to capitalize on emerging technological opportunities. It 

should be noted that the BFRL staff is actively involved with other organizations, such as 

the CII, that are aggressively addressing all life cycle phases and so are already familiar 

with these issues. 

The BFRL has limited resources for addressing all of the productivity problems in 

a $1.4 trillion industry. A number of worthwhile projects are currently underway, but the 

BFRL’s portfolio of projects needs to be clearly mapped to the larger context and 

evaluated for maximum impact given currently available resources. This strategic area is 

an example of an area in which roadmaps and portfolio management techniques would be 

most useful additions to the management tools used by NIST leadership to plan and 

execute projects. High-impact activities need to be resourced properly and over 

multiyear horizons in order to achieve the necessary results for the desired—and 

needed—impact. 

For example, while BIM is recognized as a potential breakthrough technology for 

improving productivity throughout the building life cycle, this has been true for quite 

some time. BIM is a technology that requires a significant and sustained effort to push 

the industry toward adoption. The current pace and direction of effort within the BFRL 

are sufficient for initiating that push. However, a significant additional effort will be 

 5

 National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2004, Cost Analysis of Inadequate 

Interoperability in the U.S. Capital Facilities Industry, NIST GCR 04-867, August, Gaithersburg, 

Maryland. 

17 
required to respond to stakeholder needs such as certification testing once adoption is in 

progress. The importance of the development and implementation of protocols for 

certification testing (i.e., actual testing of products) has been recognized by the BFRL 

staff; however, this importance will increase as adoption progresses, and rising to the 

challenge will require a significant effort, including resourcing and recruiting appropriate 

staff levels and expertise that likely cannot be adequately undertaken with existing BFRL 

staff levels. 

18 
Measurement Science for Predicting Life Cycle Performance 

of Nanocomposite Infrastructure Materials 

The primary core competencies for the Strategic Priority Area of Measurement 

Science for Predicting Life Cycle Performance of Nanocomposite Infrastructure 

Materials are performance, durability, and service-life prediction of building materials. 

Secondary core competencies include fire protection and fire spread within buildings and 

communities. 

Materials-related areas of expertise within this Strategic Priority Area include 

concrete, nanotechnology, polymers, and materials flammability. Measurement-related 

expertise includes chemical, physical, mechanical, optical, and electrical properties of 

materials from nano- to macroscales, in addition to computational materials modeling. 

The BFRL divisions active in this area are the Materials and Construction Research 

Division (MCRD) and the Fire Research Division (FRD). The active groups include the 

Inorganic Materials Group and the Polymeric Materials Group (in the MCRD) and the 

Materials and Products Group (in the FRD). The primary BFRL goals in this strategic 

area are High Performance Construction Materials and Systems and Innovative Fire 

Protection Technologies. The key programs are the High-Performance Construction 

Materials and Systems Prediction and Optimization of Concrete Performance Program, 

the Service Life Prediction of Nanostructured Polymeric Materials Program, and the 

Reduced Risk of Fire Spread Program. 

TECHNICAL MERIT RELATIVE TO STATE OF THE ART 

The mission of the work in this strategic area involves the testing of 

nanocomposite materials to allow long-term structural utility. The utility of 

nanocomposite materials in the large infrastructural applications requires measurement 

science and models to predict performance to the level required for engineering 

applications. An additional concern involves the environmental and safety aspects of 

nanoparticle release into the atmosphere over the life cycle of the nanocomposite. Both 

of these concerns are critical for the acceptance of nanocomposite technology into 

commodity applications of the future, including civil engineering infrastructure 

applications (e.g., buildings, bridges). These goals are well aligned with the mission of 

NIST. 

The projects of the Polymeric Materials Group and the Inorganic Materials Group 

were reviewed within this context. The integrating sphere-based ultraviolet chamber was 

discussed in detail. The information disclosed indicates that it is the most realistic 

experimental method of providing accelerated weathering data offering excellent 

agreement with natural outdoor weathering. This is quite important, as it allows for 

significant decreases in testing time while offering a high level of confidence that the 

accelerated results can be used to quantitatively predict long-term exterior performance—

a testing capability desired by a multitude of industries but not currently available. A goal 

for this project is to achieve the transfer of this elegant testing methodology to industry 

and the military for the exterior performance assessment of new materials. In essence, 

the transfer of this testing capability to an independent laboratory with more routine 

19 
materials evaluation by a myriad of customers would constitute a major NIST 

achievement. 

NIST has been at the forefront of nanocomposite research over the past several 

years. The BFRL staff members are leaders in developing a fundamental understanding 

of nanocomposites for decreasing the flammability of polymers by lowering the heat 

release rate (HRR) as measured by a cone calorimeter, and reducing the flammability of 

polyurethane (PU) foams using nanoadditives; they are also the first to develop 

flammability testing methods of flexible PU foams using a cone calorimeter. One of the 

major issues in the real world with respect to polymer flammability is the flammability of 

furniture and mattresses. The BFRL team has leveraged years of experience in polymer 

flammability and nanocomposites to tackle the problem of PU flammability by aligning 

the project to the mission of NIST that involves improving public safety and assisting 

industry in competitiveness. PU foam is highly flammable due to its low thermal 

conductivity, low decomposition temperature, and viscosity. The BFRL team developed 

a modified vertical cone calorimeter method to measure the flammability of flexible 

(melting) PU foams. The methodology developed will be useful in getting closer to 

solving the PU foam flammability problem and will develop bench-scale test methods for 

screening purposes, which will help speed the research and development of new 

solutions. 

NIST has years of experience and competence with modeling techniques in 

various areas to provide high-quality prediction tools for flammability and related 

material properties. The modeling work on the mixing and dispersion of carbon 

nanotubes and fibers in polymers shows, for example, the dependence of the energy of 

mixing on the the radius of carbon nanotubes. As with any modeling work, steps need to 

be taken to verify the modeling results with real-world experiments to define the region 

of applicability and the accuracy that can be expected from predictive models and to 

clarify the goals for subsequent research efforts. 

NIST also has a long tradition in the original and creative research on 

cementitious materials. The excellence of this work has been maintained and expanded 

into new endeavors. The BFRL staff has identified and addressed fundamental needs 

from the cement, aggregate, and concrete industry. The number of consortia in this area 

shows the impact of the research on the construction industry. 

The NIST computer model for cement hydration is the best in the field, and it has 

been widely used in academia and industry. HydratiCA, the new version of this software 

program, is a significant improvement over earlier versions. It integrates well with the 

BFRL’s Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory. The Inorganic Materials 

Group has done an important service by taking the leadership in the new ASTM C1365 

test method for the determination of the phases in Portland cement. 

The development of sustainable materials and construction is of paramount 

importance for American leadership in civil infrastructure. The BFRL project whose goal 

is doubling the service life of these materials is potentially of breakthrough significance 

that could lead to a methodology for casting a new generation of reinforced concrete 

structures. To be successful, this project will require greater resources so that the 

researchers can optimize the chemicals to be added to the concrete mixture. 

20 
ADEQUACY OF INFRASTRUCTURE 

While the Polymeric Materials Group and the Inorganic Materials Group would 

benefit from additional equipment (specifically, transmission electron microscopy), the 

need to add a technical staff member to support this capability is not considered a high 

enough priority relative to the other group responsibilities. There appears to be a concern 

among the BFRL staff that the time spent on administrative activities (such as budget 

planning, recruitment, and related activities) by the principal investigators may be 

interfering with their key technical responsibilities. Increased global interaction by the 

BFRL with the areas of the world experiencing technological growth (including China, 

India, and South America) is an important future goal. The flow of information thus far 

has been more unidirectional—specifically, other countries are deriving information from 

NIST. Competitive technology today requires global interaction; the United States no 

longer has a monopoly on emerging technology. The updating and the modernizing of 

NIST-related test equipment and procedures should be considered (the cone calorimeter 

is a case in point). This effort will enable the easy comparison of historical data and 

ensure continuity of standardized measurement methods. 

ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES AND IMPACT 

The accelerated weathering testing and modeling have been highly successful and 

appear to have met the project’s goals and objectives to date, with the remaining goal 

being the adoption by end users and the availability of the capability in an independent 

laboratory. The development of a vertical flammability test for flexible polyurethane 

foams using the cone calorimeter could lead to bench-scale screening tools that will 

accelerate discovery and time to commercialization. 

The development of the internal curing of concrete was an efficient method of 

reducing or eliminating the internal cracking of concrete leading to more durable 

structures. The Materials and Products Group within the FRD has attracted a number of 

guest researchers from renowned institutions that complement the ongoing projects. The 

international reputation of the division is reflected in the fact that several graduate 

students have come to do research projects at NIST, in some cases bringing their own 

funding. The number of publications, presentations, and workshop reports from the Fire 

Research Division are cited by scientists around the globe for their technical content, the 

importance of their subject, and the technical novelty of the approaches employed. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The projects in the strategic area of Measurement Science for Predicting Life 

Cycle Performance of Nanocomposite Infrastructure Materials are well aligned with the 

mission of NIST and should continue to focus on measurement science based on 

fundamental mechanistic understanding. 

This Strategic Priority Area is of paramount importance to nanotechnology, 

because the assessment of the nanoparticle release into the environment is of considerable 

concern. To best accomplish this activity and disseminate results, the projects in this area 

should be highly integrated with those of the National Institutes of Health. 

21 
The BFRL has shown leadership in the development of the materials science of 

construction materials. This fundamental science has already found practical application 

in construction practice. The new activity of doubling the service life of construction 

materials could be critical to maintaining American competitiveness in the field of civil 

infrastructure. Increasing the life cycle of concrete is vital for the repair and upgrade of 

the aging civil infrastructure. The group can create a new paradigm in advanced 

cementitious material by optimizing the nanostructure of the material with appropriate 

chemical admixtures. 

Reducing the flammability of polyurethane foam is extremely critical considering 

the worldwide use of these polymers in a number of applications. Using nanocomposites 

to reduce flammability and developing bench-scale flammability testing capabilities will 

not only develop fire-safe materials but will also accelerate the speed to market for these 

materials. 

The budgeting process for the BFRL should include funding for principal 

investigators to support time for the exploration of other projects that are aligned with the 

NIST mission. This will encourage discovery and out-of-the-box thinking. 

NIST should further highlight the accomplishments and the reports of the World 

Trade Center investigation program. 

22 
Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities 

(Hurricanes and Earthquakes) 

 The primary core competency for the Strategic Priority Area of Disaster Resilient 

Structures and Communities (Hurricanes and Earthquakes) is performance and resilience 

of structures and communities under extreme loads. 

The areas of expertise within this Strategic Priority Area include structural 

engineering, wind engineering, earthquake engineering, structural performance in fires, 

computational modeling and analysis, and structural reliability. The BFRL divisions and 

offices active in this area are the Materials and Construction Research Division (MCRD), 

the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Office, and the Office of 

Applied Economics (OAE). One of the primary BFRL goals in this strategic area is 

Disaster Resilience. Key programs include the Safety of Threatened Buildings Program 

(wind engineering and multi-hazard failure analysis) and the NEHRP. 

BACKGROUND 

Several ongoing programs were reviewed by the panel: (1) the National 

Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, for which the leadership was undertaken by 

NIST in 2005; (2) several programs that had been initiated in approximately 2001, 

including the Fire Resistant Design and Retrofit of Structures Program and the Prevention 

of Progressive Collapse Program; and (3) two relatively new initiatives that, in addition 

to NEHRP, directly address the priorities of the Disaster Resilient Structures and 

Communities strategic area, which are intended to meet the goals of the American 

Competitiveness Initiative. These latter programs address the topics of wind engineering 

and multi-hazard failure analysis. The investigation of the collapse of the World Trade 

Center (WTC) had a major impact on the resources in the Structures Program over the 

past 6 years. The final report on WTC 1 and 2 has been issued,6 and the group is nearing 

completion of the report on Building No. 7. 

Earthquake Engineering (NEHRP Activities Associated with NIST) 

Earthquake-related structural engineering research has not been a focus at the 

BFRL for the past 10 years. It is anticipated that with NIST assuming the leadership of 

NEHRP in 2005, the BFRL earthquake-related research program will be rejuvenated. 

The BFRL’s efforts should be coordinated with other programs and agencies; this is 

particularly important given that the BFRL’s work in earthquake-related structural 

engineering is anticipated to be computational, relying on associated laboratory work 

elsewhere. There are several current research focus areas (e.g., progressive collapse and 

multi-hazard failure analysis) that should be broadened to address earthquake-related 

issues as well. It is planned to build a new in-house research staff related to earthquake 

engineering issues in FY 2008 and FY 2009. Those hired should complement rather than 

 6

 National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2005, Federal Building and Fire Safety 

Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster: Final Report of the National Construction Safety Team 

on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Tower, NIST NCSTAR 1, Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

23 
overlap with the existing NIST Structures Program staff. There is a current plan to 

partner with the Applied Technology Council (ATC) and the Consortium of Universities 

for Research in Earthquake Engineering in conjunction with the three National Science 

Foundation (NSF)-sponsored earthquake engineering centers (Mid-America Earthquake 

Center, Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, and Pacific 

Earthquake Engineering Research). As the three centers are “sunset,” plans for the future 

should be developed. The plan for projects includes the following: 

y The Quantification of Building System Performance and Response Parameters 

project (to provide technical support for seismic practice and code 

development), which includes beta testing of ATC-63 methodology that is to 

use nonlinear models of seismic force-resisting “archetype” structures intended 

to result in equivalent safety against collapse for buildings across different 

seismic resisting systems. 

y The development of Performance-Based Seismic Design guidelines for Port 

and Harbor Facilities project: whereas the NEHRP’s previous focus has 

traditionally been on earthquake safety, there are now plans to address the 

national economy and security. This project, an example of that category, is the 

current focus of one of the NSF-funded grand challenge (GC) projects. The 

NEHRP sees a role that NIST can play in assisting the transfer of technology 

learned in the GCs into practice through the development of codes and 

standards. There are other opportunities with NSF GCs that may be identified 

in the future; the opportunities relate to nonductile frame systems and 

nonstructural elements. 

y It is anticipated that the experimental work associated with the endeavors listed 

above will be conducted at existing laboratories external to NIST. 

Fire Resistant Design and Retrofit of Structures 

The Fire Resistant Design and Retrofit of Structures Program is well conceived 

and well integrated with other BFRL programs. Critical to this program is the 

construction of a large-scale structural fire test facility (see the “Adequacy of 

Infrastructure” subsection below). 

Progressive Collapse 

The tools being developed for the prediction of structural behavior at the limit of 

structural capacity, such as in the Quantification of Building System Performance and 

Response Parameters project, will be very valuable to researchers and designers of 

structures designed to withstand special threats. The BFRL’s work should be coordinated 

with the projects and programs at the Department of Defense and other agencies in order 

to eliminate duplication of effort and to ensure that the tools being developed are those 

that are the most needed. 

24 
Wind Engineering 

The BFRL has exceptionally well qualified staff in the technical area of wind 

engineering. Although resources have been increased, the staff is at present handicapped 

by a lack of resources (specifically, convenient access to a wind tunnel). The BFRL staff 

has well-established links with codes and standards committees that should reduce the 

risk of the adoption of the research work product. The work in the area of wind 

engineering is consistent with ACI objectives as detailed by the NIST Three-Year 

Programmatic Plan. Adequate funding should be allocated for the computational wind 

tunnel (database-assisted design) for predicting extreme wind effects. This group needs 

permanent staff to support these activities and a plan for mentorship to ensure continued 

NIST strength in this critical area. 

Multi-Hazard Failure Analysis 

The Multi-Hazard Failure Analysis Program is in its early stages, and the current 

focus on wind speed and storm surge is appropriate. The program should be expanded to 

include other hazards such as earthquake and fire as part of a multi-hazard approach. The 

current reliance on state-funded data (specifically from Florida funding) is too limiting. A 

national effort to fund the securing of these critical data is imperative. This is a new effort 

consistent with the NIST Three-Year Programmatic Plan. 

TECHNICAL MERIT RELATIVE TO STATE OF THE ART 

The work being done within this Strategic Priority Area is generally at state-ofthe-art level. The quality of the work is demonstrated by the acceptance of submissions 

to high-impact publications and by the transition of the work to codes and standards. 

Papers undergo extensive internal review before their submission for publication. The 

work under this Strategic Priority Area is clearly tied to the BFRL mission. Ties to the 

external community are demonstrated by the staff’s membership and active participation 

in professional and trade committees. 

Clear standards do not seem to be consistently applied within the BFRL to ensure 

the integrity of measurements (e.g., quality or certainty of data obtained from external 

facilities). The development of a curated database containing both experimental data and 

software developments should be made publicly available for all projects. This aspect 

currently seems lacking or not standardized, with current efforts occurring on an ad hoc 

basis. 

ADEQUACY OF INFRASTRUCTURE 

The primary focus of the current BFRL Structures Program is directed toward the 

development of advanced computational models. In some cases these models have taken 

up to 2 months to run on local workstations. An effort should be made to identify 

alternative computational capabilities, including the use of national supercomputing 

resources, to remove this bottleneck and to bring this aspect of the research program up to 

state-of-the-art usage of appropriate hardware. Laboratory experiments required for 

25 
validation are being outsourced by the BFRL rather than its maintaining or adding new 

capability, with one exception—in the area of fire research (see below). This approach is 

acceptable to the degree that the researchers can, in an effective and timely manner, 

outsource the work while ensuring the quality of the data. There appear to be some 

difficulties associated with securing resources at external laboratories due to contracting 

issues, with the exception of the use of other government laboratories (e.g., the 

Construction Engineering Research Laboratory). Methodologies or agreements should be 

developed to make this process more efficient and less onerous. 

One area in which the BFRL has chosen to place its resources is in the 

development of a first-class large-scale fire testing facility (the proposed Structural Fire 

Endurance Laboratory). This facility would be large enough to test the performance of 

full-scale assemblies of interconnected elements, such as the intersection of floor, wall, 

and roof assemblies. This has been a huge void in the nation’s capabilities, and the BFRL 

is a logical organization to house such a facility. This need was identified by the BFRL in 

2004, but limited progress has been made to date. Preliminary plans should be developed 

for this facility and cost estimates prepared as soon as possible. Highest priority should 

be assigned to the development of this facility. 

Current staff members in the Structures Group are well qualified to conduct the 

projects now underway. Although staff have the necessary technical expertise to plan and 

conduct the work, there are serious concerns relative to the attracting, recruiting, training, 

and retaining of staff for future needs. The BFRL needs to develop a plan that addresses 

present and future staffing needs, mentoring and staff development, retention strategies, 

and technical and project management training, and the necessary HR support needs to be 

provided to implement the plan. A specific impediment to recruiting new staff is the 

requirement that all staff be U.S. citizens. This limitation significantly reduces an 

already-limited pool of potential candidates and was frequently mentioned by existing 

Structures Group staff as a major barrier to recruiting qualified staff. 

There has been a significant change in personnel within the BFRL, particularly in 

leadership positions. It is not clear that there have been leadership development 

opportunities to prepare individuals for this transition to significantly more and different 

levels of responsibility. The staff at the BFRL is highly technical, and the development of 

expertise in business management principles is warranted and should be addressed in the 

overall staffing plan. 

Individual staff members seem to be driven to maintain expertise in a particular 

area, enhancing opportunities to be noted and recognized for specific contributions 

related to a relatively narrow focus area. Part of this motivation appears tied to the 

metrics used for determining merit raises and promotions (e.g., peer-reviewed 

publications). If an individual plays a supporting role across a number of areas there is 

less evidence of the particular individual’s strength or stature, but such efforts may be 

significantly better overall for program effectiveness. NIST should consider changes in 

the criteria that it uses for recognizing and rewarding staff in order to encourage 

cooperation among its experts and their participation in projects in useful supporting 

roles. 

26 
ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES AND IMPACT 

The Structures Group effort has excellent linkage with the BFRL mission. The 

work of the group has impact as demonstrated by the group’s linkage with Standards 

Development Organizations and demonstrated success in moving research products to 

standards and codes (e.g., fire, structural robustness). 

The BFRL needs to continue to leverage episodic events (e.g., the work on the 

WTC disaster) to benefit ongoing research and development (R&D). The value of these 

types of investigations is important to the work at NIST in terms of providing focus to 

ongoing programs and also of reinforcing the need for the creation and use of 

multidisciplinary teams of sufficient size to address national needs in the areas of 

measurement science. 

The BFRL also needs to gain a better understanding of the economic drivers and 

barriers (e.g., support of obsolete prescriptive fire-resistance requirements by product 

manufacturers) as they relate to the implementation of R&D products. The behavioral 

responses of individuals and institutions to perceived threats and emergencies also need 

to be factored in to planning and designs. 

Analysis models based on existing codes (e.g., LS-Dyna, Abaqus, Ansys) should 

be made available to the public. Time lines and milestones were not presented for most 

projects reviewed in this area by the panel. (Many projects were apparently slowed down 

by the demands of the WTC work.) No project has been terminated in recent years—

leading to concerns as to whether ongoing projects are reassessed realistically for likely 

success on a regular basis. This is an example of where the project management 

techniques used extensively by industry (e.g., Stage-Gate processes) would be beneficial 

in portfolio management and in obtaining the full potential at the BFRL in project 

execution. The development and review of technology roadmaps are also essential in 

carrying out effective project management. It would be useful for the BFRL to develop 

objective measures of the impact of its work on stakeholders. Some efforts by BFRL 

scientific personnel to obtain small-funded assignments for themselves and their staff, 

separate from the overall grant-generation programs of the BFRL, represent an inefficient 

use of their time. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The programs in the Strategic Priority Area of Disaster Resilient Structures and 

Communities (Hurricanes and Earthquakes) are in general successful with respect to the 

criteria employed for this assessment. The technical merit of the programs reviewed was 

consistent with state-of-the-art standards and had a sound tie to the overall BFRL 

Strategic Priority Areas and a strong tie to codes and standards development. Some 

progress is needed in the area of data integrity (with regard to the quality of test data and 

calibrations) as more laboratory work is outsourced. The needs in the area of facilities 

and equipment have evolved owing to the trend to outsource large-scale structural 

laboratory tests. This trend to outsourcing is commendable and acceptable to the degree 

that data integrity and project delivery can be maintained. One area in which outsourcing 

is not a viable option is that of large-scale structural fire testing. The BFRL is developing 

plans to add this capability; the laboratory should accelerate the planning effort and 

27 
should secure the necessary resources to put the facility in place. In the area of human 

resources, priorities must be given to developing a long-term staffing plan that addresses 

the recruiting, training, and retaining of needed talent. This is especially important 

because staff attrition due to retirement is outpacing recruiting efforts. The process of 

assessing the achievement of stated project objectives needs clarification and should 

include the development of systemwide metrics. At the present time, it appears that the 

achievement of stated objectives is mainly assessed by monitoring program progress 

against program-developed milestones. Although this process may be effective on a 

project basis, it may be lacking as an effective methodology for assessing a group of 

projects with related objectives. The objectives for the reviewed projects support the 

initiatives outlined in the ACI. 

28 
Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Fires) 

The primary core competency for the Strategic Priority Area of Disaster Resilient 

Structures and Communities (Fires) is fire protection and fire spread within buildings and 

communities. 

The areas of expertise within this Strategic Priority Area include fire protection 

engineering (suppression, detection, and smoke control); combustion chemistry and fire 

dynamics; fire service technologies; egress design; elevator technology; occupant 

behavior; and codes and standards—as well as sensitivity to longer-run human relocation 

activities in response to apparent reduction in risk, and the consequent societal impacts. 

The BFRL division active in this area is the Fire Research Division (FRD). Active 

division groups include the Integrated Performance Assessment, Analysis, and Prediction 

Group; the Fire Metrology Group; and the Fire Fighting Technologies Group. The 

primary BFRL goals in this strategic area are Innovative Fire Protection Technologies 

and Homeland Security and Disaster Resilience. The key programs are the Reduced Risk 

of Fire Spread in Buildings Program, the Advanced Fire Service Technologies Program, 

the Advanced Measurement and Predictive Methods Program, the Safety of Threatened 

Buildings Program, and Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Program. 

TECHNICAL MERIT RELATIVE TO STATE OF THE ART 

The BFRL continues to have core competence with high technical merit in the fire 

area, particularly in the design and execution of experiments and the consistent coupling 

of experiments to validate predictive physics-based computational tools. The project 

reviews for the Fires strategic area clearly showed strengths in the area of physics. There 

is a historical strength at NIST in developing deep physics understanding of fire (a broad 

characterization including, for example, initiation and spread) and capturing the physics 

in both modeling and the validation of the models through well-designed and controlled 

experiments. 

The BFRL is making important contributions to the reduction of the risk of fire 

spread in buildings, to the safety of buildings and first responders, and the understanding 

of fire spread at the wildland-urban interface. The staff and facilities within the BFRL 

are a national resource for retrospective studies of fire accidents, which is superbly 

demonstrated in the studies of the fires at the World Trade Center and the Warwick, 

Rhode Island, Station nightclub. Lessons from fire investigations are aided by the ability 

to conduct tests, often at full scale in the Large Fire Laboratory (LFL), mainly for 

accidents, such as the nightclub fire. The LFL can also be used to obtain the heat-release 

rate (HRR) for furnishings to be used in the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) of building 

fires with full allowance for furnishings, which are often the main source of fuel for the 

fire. The BFRL facilities for metrology are state of the art for providing unbiased 

performance assessment of products vital to the first responder such as respirators, smoke 

detectors, infrared cameras, and personal alert safety systems (PASS). Industry is not 

equipped to provide dependable assessment data for these products. 

The projects in this strategic area reviewed by the panel showed a clear 

commitment to developing physics-based, predictive, computational, and validated 

mathematical models. The BFRL has core competencies in fire modeling (the 

29 
Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport [CFAST] and the Fire Dynamics 

Simulator), in which the laboratory has invested with outstanding results. The work is 

fundamental, has been peer-reviewed, has been leading in its field, and demonstrates 

unique capabilities. There are examples of new computational methodology being sought 

to address problems in fire protection (melt pool modeling). 

There are excellent programs in this strategic area to support progress in 

addressing the U.S. fire problem for risk reduction and the effective development of 

codes and standards. The work that was reviewed covered a wide range of topics in 

support of this mission, and the evaluation of these programs within the BFRL by the 

leadership appears to be very rigorous. The reviewed work in the areas of high-rise 

building fires, wind-driven fires, and positive-pressure ventilation coupled with work on 

thermal imaging can have immediate positive impact for the effectiveness and safety of 

the firefighter. The work on egress in tall buildings that is a follow-on to the WTC study 

was well formulated. This work needs to be expanded with more attention given to the 

makeup of the team. The fact that a workshop has been organized to consider rethinking 

egress is a very positive step toward the creation of technology roadmaps that can give 

multiyear direction to the research efforts and serve as a foundation for increased support 

to the BFRL. Work on wildland-urban interface fires is critically needed as construction 

develops at these interfaces; the program that was reviewed holds promise for 

strategically addressing this issue. Smoke alarm performance research is critical and may 

enable the safety community to address a crucial aspect of smoke detector reliability. 

The thermal imaging camera issue is one of great promise, once again for the 

effectiveness and safety of the firefighter. The thermal imaging camera may be the 

biggest advancement for firefighter safety since the development of the self-contained 

breathing apparatus. The program balance from the standpoint of a practical fire service 

is definitely on track. Programs in toxicity measurement to aid in escape from burning 

buildings, firefighter safety and effectiveness, and emergency escape management 

address crucial aspects of the fire problem today. 

The Reduced Risk of Fire Spread in Buildings Program addresses the important 

issue of the propagation of fires as it is influenced by different materials, a problem that 

is of major importance, as synthetic materials often have a higher energy-release rate than 

that of the natural materials that they replace. Good progress is being made in developing 

experimental and modeling capability for assessing the propagation of fires involving 

foams on real objects, which is a problem that is complicated by the formation of melts 

that flow and can form pool fires. Studies are also being conducted on reducing deaths 

resulting from fire propagation and the smoke that it generates. Technical merit in this 

area is rated excellent based on the following: 

y The selection of problems based on good contacts with the customers in the 

fire community and on an appreciation of the mechanisms controlling fire 

spread and fire mitigation; 

y Facilities that provide precise data on HRR ranging in scale from bench scale 

to 15 MW, which is a range that enables the FRD to translate fundamentals to 

industrial practice; 

y Analytical capabilities that provide critical information on temperatures, 

velocity, distributions, soot, concentration of major combustion products, and 

30 
toxic gases; and 

y A dedicated and very qualified staff. 

The researchers reviewed did not always provide enough information to permit 

the panel to obtain a complete view of the assessment criteria presented in the charge to 

the panel from the Director of NIST. While a number of clear technological strengths 

were presented, a number of gaps apparently exist in the competencies that the BFRL is 

bringing to the overall problem set. From an academic perspective the research is well 

managed and productive, but it does not contain the industrial perspective of gates for 

moving to the next level or Stage Gates for arriving at decisions to accelerate (or 

terminate) specific projects. 

The researchers discussed systems in different ways: the need to look at coupling 

in experiments, the need to couple different computational approaches, the need to look 

at overall uncertainty effects. While the need is clear and to some degree was articulated 

well by the researchers to the panel, there was no systematic description of the construct 

of “systems” for projects or with respect to skill sets in the area of systems engineering. 

The industrial use of methodology and tools along the lines of Design for Six Sigma7

 (a 

method for eliminating defects in processes) should be examined in the area of fire 

protection and appears to be appropriate for this environment (with obvious emphases 

and modifications as needed). 

There is a clear set of strengths in physics-based modeling and in simulation in 

the programs reviewed. There was no clear capability in the areas of analysis of the 

resulting models. In particular, a great deal of the work at the BFRL addresses systems 

and temporally evolving situations of interest; there is an apparent need for added 

competence in the area of dynamical systems that involves a qualitative and quantitative 

understanding of the dynamics in order to fully utilize modern methods of nonlinear 

dynamical systems for qualitative understanding and for designing appropriate algorithms 

and focusing the computational efforts. 

There was a great deal of discussion on uncertainty but almost no technical 

discussion or presentation on what is necessary to have competence in this area. Given 

the focus in numerous professional communities as well as ongoing projects in this area 

(e.g. ongoing efforts resourced by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 

[DARPA] to provide effective computational tools for the propagation of uncertainty in 

large-scale interconnected, dynamical systems), the lack of understanding of the state of 

the art in this area should be actively addressed. 

The President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) 

recently published findings8

 that stress the need to develop technology for networked 

systems connected to the physical world or to fully develop the technology known as 

cyber-physical systems. Without doubt, one institution where this R&D agenda is 

relevant and should be developed with intensity is the BFRL. In the area of fire safety as 

well as that of energy efficiency, the use of new technologies, particularly information 

 7

 K.N. Otto and K.L. Wood, 2001, Product Design, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. 8

 President’s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), 2007, Leadership 

Under Challenge: Information Technology R&D in a Competitive World, Technical Report, August, 

Washington, D.C.: Executive Office of the President. 

31 
technology-based, was missing from the project reviews, the strategic objectives, and the 

overall discussions. 

ADEQUACY OF INFRASTRUCTURE 

The Large Fire Laboratory (LFL) is able to facilitate the study of fires with the 

precise measurement of the heat-release rate at three different scales for fires in the 

ranges of 10 kW to 750 kW, 100 kW to 3 MW, and 200 kW to 15 MW. The LFL is 

designed to evaluate large fires; this facility is different from the proposed Structural Fire 

Endurance Laboratory, which will involve the testing of the mechanical performance of 

structures subjected to fires and will necessarily involve both the fire and material 

research experts in the BFRL. The LFL has added greatly to the ability of NIST to carry 

out a broad range of experiments on the validation of models, the reconstruction of major 

accidental fires, and the quantitative evaluation of the HRR for fires burning a wide range 

of objects, including furnishings, trees, and entire enclosures. The distinguishing features 

of the LFL are the precision with which the HRR is measured and the availability of 

diagnostic tools for obtaining gas species composition and soot, temperature, and velocity 

profiles. Some of the problems that have been addressed using the LFL are the 

measurement of the HRR of furnishings to provide data inputs regarding building fires 

and the measurement of the HRR of large trees to provide inputs for computer simulation 

of WUI fires. 

The competency of the staff supporting this Strategic Priority Area is high, and 

the excitement for their work is palpable. The stimulation promoted by the WTC 

investigation program is still evident and is being amplified by new programs on WUI 

fires and hydrogen funded through the America COMPETES Act. With the retirement of 

some renowned staff members, it is important to mentor the younger staff to help them 

exploit the benefits of collaboration of other laboratories with NIST, to guide them to 

appropriate forums for technological exchanges and journals for their publications, and to 

help them manage their time. 

Restoring the funding of the University Grants Program to the level, corrected for 

inflation, that it had when it was transferred to NIST from the National Science 

Foundation would strengthen the national fire capabilities as well as increase the pool of 

potential employees for the fire program in the future. The following excerpt from a 

National Research Council report on fire safety9 provides the history of the grant 

program: 

 

In the early 1970s, the National Science Foundation (NSF) supported fire 

research at a level of approximately $2.2 million every year ($9.6 million in 

today’s dollars) through a program known as Research Applied to National 

Needs (RANN). The RANN program was terminated in 1977. Subsequently, a 

fire research grants program at the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) 

was funded at about $2 million annually ($8.7 million in today’s dollars). 

However, by 2002, the NIST fire research grants program had declined to only 

$1.4 million, a decrease of 85 percent from the 1973 level when adjusted for 

 9 National Research Council, 2003, Making the Nation Safe from Fire: A Path Forward in 

Research, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.

32 
inflation. As a consequence of the limited funding that has been made available, 

the scope and breadth of university fire research in the United States have 

declined dramatically over the past 30 years. 

Program balance from the standpoint of a practical fire service is on track. 

Programs in toxicity measurement for escape from burning buildings, firefighter safety 

and effectiveness, and emergency escape management address crucial aspects of the fire 

problem today. Both the Toxicity Laboratory and the LFL are impressive. The reasoning 

behind the expansion plans for the large-fire test facility, including the construction of the 

Structural Fire Endurance Laboratory, is sound. Research intent and commitment are 

excellent. Staffing appears to be well thought out in the fire service area. There is an 

excellent balance of researchers, and there are plans to fill two current vacancies in the 

Fire Research Division. 

The technical staff is the lifeblood of NIST. The staff members were articulate 

and, on the whole, knowledgeable of the technical areas. The staff appeared technically 

strong. However, the level of stature of the technical staff in the field was not clear. 

Publications alone do not indicate the leadership of the staff. Collaborations, which are 

occurring, also do not paint a complete picture. There were not clear indications that the 

staff are leading the field in some of the technical areas in which the BFRL participates, 

and staffing and staff development efforts should be undertaken to address the issue of 

leadership. 

Biographies of the staff were not available to the panel; hence the evaluation of 

the BFRL staff backgrounds was incomplete in terms of understanding the current staff 

profile and the changes that are occurring (beyond the number of Ph.D. and M.S. staff 

members in the laboratory). The development of staff in terms of what is required at 

different levels and what is done in terms of assignments, training, or mentoring to enable 

staff to achieve higher levels of performance was unclear. 

The staff includes pockets of significant excellence, but insufficient staff 

background data prevented an assessment of the overall level of staff qualifications. The 

laboratory infrastructure—facilities and people—needs additional focus to be able to 

complete the mission and particularly to achieve the strategic goals set by the BFRL 

management. 

ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES AND IMPACT 

The overarching Advanced Fire Service Technologies Program goes a long way 

toward balancing research for the built environment and research for firefighters who 

respond to fires in the built environment. Researchers in this area have a good 

understanding of the work going on in other laboratories, both in the United States and 

internationally. Overall, the BFRL has an excellent grasp of the fire problem in the 

United States. This work appears to be in support of America COMPETES Act of 2007. 

The work being done in both of the laboratories and in the programs across the board is 

extremely relevant to the needs that should be addressed for the fire problem in general. 

The BFRL develops an unbiased evaluation of fire detection to help in the 

formulation of codes and standards (now prescriptive, in the future, performance-based) 

that will place the United States in a leadership position with regard to sensors, building 

materials, and building technologies. The BFRL has been very successful in working 

33 
with sensor manufacturers as well as with the fire service community in providing critical 

testing of the products that are manufactured and in use. The laboratory appears to have 

had less interaction with the building industry. At present, the industry relies on standard 

testing laboratories such as Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL), which provide results 

on the performance of individual materials or components, but not on systems. The 

BFRL can, by testing systems, provide the data that the ultimate customer, the builder, 

needs. The proposed Structural Fire Resistance Laboratory will provide the ability to test 

the structural systems that are needed for the assessment of systems that involve multiple 

elements and joints. 

BFRL researchers are active participants in major committees relating to fire 

safety and the protection of first responders, and they currently play a major leadership 

role in standards and code-setting committees. The results of the research efforts are 

disseminated through the preparation of CDs of fire scenarios, test burns, and training 

manuals for first responders, universities, and the public; and the sponsoring of an 

Annual Fire Conference as well as topical workshops, and outreach provided by the Web 

site Fire.Gov. The widespread adoption of FDS—the code of choice for the fire 

community—has established a Web-based access to the user community. In the Fire 

Research Division, researchers have been recognized by multiple awards including a 

Gold, a Silver, and three Bronze Medals of the Department of Commerce during the 

2005-2007 period. Publication in peer-reviewed publications should be encouraged and 

strengthened. This output of the research provides the widest dissemination of the FRD 

results and is important for the development of visibility, particularly for the younger 

members of the FRD staff. 

There is excellent balance in the work in this area between anticipatory, longerterm research and activities that respond to immediate customer needs. The WUI 

program provides an excellent example of longer-term research covering fires on 

multiple scales and at new interfaces. This work also tackles the complex problem of fire 

brands, which draw on the specialized facilities of the Large Fire Laboratory at NIST to 

determine fire brand generation by burning Douglas firs, and the large wind tunnel at the 

Building Research Institute in Japan to determine the impact of fire brands on a variety of 

common roof materials. The WTC and Rhode Island nightclub fire investigations are 

excellent examples of responsiveness of the BFRL to short-term needs through the use of 

multidisciplinary teams that enable both the understanding of the event and the systemic 

understanding of root cause that leads to changes in codes and standards. The 

determination of the adequacy of a variety of protection equipment (PASS, heat shields, 

radios, thermal imaging, and respiratory gear) for first responders is of enormous value to 

firefighters. 

 There was clear articulation of the mission and of the strategic directions for the 

BFRL. However, this strategic vision was not always complemented by detailed 

roadmaps and associated metrics that could be used to evaluate progress. This lack of 

portfolio management exemplifies an area in which project management techniques used 

widely in industry should be adopted by the BFRL. 

There was clear use in the Fire strategic area of the “Heilmeier criteria”10 that 

 10 G. Heilmeier, 1992, “Some Reflections on Innovation and Invention,” The Bridge, Vol. 22 (No. 

4): pp. 12-16. 

34 
have been adopted from DARPA11 for project selection (investment criterion). However, 

these criteria are not implemented as rigorously as they have been by DARPA. 

The areas of WUI fires and the World Trade Center investigation were presented 

to the panel in detail. These areas have had a clear and very positive focusing effect on 

the BFRL, and the response of the entire BFRL organization has been admirable during 

these investigations. The strengths of the diversity of expertise and the collaborative 

teaming among the contributors at the BFRL and elsewhere are evident in these 

investigations. It is not apparent, however, that clear lessons learned are being derived 

from these investigations and that upstream research is being developed systematically to 

address issues that arise from the studies on episodic events. These issues include the use 

of adequately sized and multidisciplinary teams. Smaller research efforts, especially 

without the use of technology roadmaps, can have a diffusing effect on research. 

A role for NIST is the development of technology to enable performance-based 

codes. This leadership role was communicated to the panel by most presentations in a 

consistent manner. However, the leadership did not clearly show transition or impact on 

stakeholders to increase innovation or to increase performance in the building stock. The 

measurement of transitions to industrial use or to codes and standards, part of the R&D 

process, is not clearly being tracked at the BFRL. 

Making use of technology maturation metrics such as technology readiness levels 

(TRLs) should be present, but in the projects reviewed there was no discernable process 

for understanding and measuring the state of technology readiness, particularly in the 

technology areas that underlie the Strategic Priority Areas. NASA, the Department of 

Defense, and others have adopted TRLs that quantify the maturity level but also give 

indications of what the gates are for moving to the next level. Without some sort of 

maturity index at the BFRL, it is not clear how the investments are being used to increase 

the levels or to get to transitions and impact. In addition to but different from using TRLs 

would be the use of project management strategies such as the Stage-Gate methodology, 

but there is no clear use of such an approach at the BFRL. There is a clear sense of the 

objective and milestones of the projects under review, but the methodology and criteria 

for arriving at a decision to accelerate (or to terminate) specific projects are not present. 

The projects that were selected to be reviewed appear to fall into several areas, but the 

choice was not explicit. There were projects that were long-standing (CFAST and FDS), 

projects that were driven by events or crises (WUI post-fire analysis, WTC investigation), 

and some newly emerging areas (egress, hydrogen fire safety). These could be put into a 

clearer project management format and the investments over the portfolio clarified if such 

processes were adopted. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The BFRL continues to demonstrate a core competence in the Fire Strategic 

Priority Area, particularly in the design and execution of experiments and the consistent 

coupling of experiments to validate predictive, physics-based computational tools. The 

work on the World Trade Center investigation is a very strong indicator of the 

 11 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 2007, Strategic Plan: Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency, Technical Report, Washington, D.C. 

35 
fundamental quality that the BFRL has and the value of the laboratory to the United 

States. 

The BFRL has begun to outline strategic areas in which to focus R&D efforts and 

to make investments, and it is beginning to employ some tools to characterize the 

investments in the programs that make up the research portfolio. The general area of 

project execution requires some focus beyond the work done to date. 

The staff has pockets of excellence, but insufficient data were presented to permit 

an assessment of overall staff qualifications. The laboratory infrastructure—the facilities 

and people—need additional focus to complete the mission and particularly to achieve 

the strategic goals set by the BFRL management. 

The key recommendations are made relative to the strengthening of the core 

mission of developing measurement science. In the area of technology, the skill sets need 

to be both augmented and strengthened to execute against what are increasingly systems 

issues—there is little application in the teams for the projects reviewed of systems 

engineering, dynamical systems, and more broadly the much deeper use of information 

technology. Improved processes and metrics to characterize the research portfolio and to 

track project execution should be applied. The output of NIST is critically dependent on 

the staff. Recruiting and staff development need much stronger focus to ensure that the 

NIST mission can continue to be applied to new areas. 

Specific recommendations in the area of technology include the following: 

increasing skill sets in systems engineering and dynamics, making explicit the ability to 

quantify uncertainty, and maintaining the core competence in fire systems that is founded 

on developing advanced experimentation capability coupled to validated computational 

tools. Investments should continue to be made in the experimental facilities as well as in 

making use of the facilities for the validation of mathematical models. The construction 

of a Structural Fire Endurance Laboratory is very desirable. The BFRL should prepare 

detailed schematic designs and obtain cost estimates for the proposed new large-scale fire 

test facility. The BFRL should also contact end users of the BFRL research as partners in 

developing the facility. 

One recommendation in the area of the R&D process is for the adoption of project 

management tools (e.g., the Stage-Gate processes and some form of technology readiness 

levels) to quantify the technology maturity and to identify the overall investments in the 

R&D portfolio. Another recommendation is for the creation of roadmaps for the strategic 

areas that identify the sequencing of technology development and the timing that is 

needed for the identified stakeholders. 

In future reviews, the BRFL should make explicit the biographical background of 

the current staff, the strategic hiring plans for competency levels, and individual staff 

development plans. Considerable motivation and focusing evolved from the work on fire 

problems with clear objectives, specifically, the WUI and WTC investigations. The 

BFRL should derive from these focusing-event investigations clear lessons learned and 

processes to use both in deriving research programs and in developing project planning 

methods that can be used in situations that do not have such clarity in the objectives.

36 
Programs Funded Under the America COMPETES Act 

DISASTER RESILIENT STRUCTURES AND COMMUNITIES (HURRICANES 

AND EARTHQUAKES) 

The BFRL sees Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Hurricanes and 

Earthquakes) as a key focus area for addressing the goals of the America COMPETES 

Act of 2007 and the American Competitiveness Initiative. The Disaster Resilient 

Structures and Communities program has the following five stated research thrust areas: 

(1) develop validated tools that predict performance to failure under extreme loading 

conditions, (2) develop community-scale loss estimation tools to predict disaster 

resilience, (3) develop validated tools to assess and evaluate the capabilities of existing 

structures to withstand extreme loads, (4) develop performance-based guidelines for the 

cost-effective design of new buildings and the rehabilitation of existing buildings, and (5) 

derive lessons learned from disasters and failures involving structures. The BFRL 

Structures Group has mapped its existing program deliverables to these research thrust 

areas associated with ACI. The Structures Group received funding for a 5-year (FY 2003 

to FY 2008) NIST Competence project to develop capabilities in analyzing the failure of 

complex systems. In FY 2008, the America COMPETES Act funding levels in the BFRL 

were not increased as had been anticipated. As a result, these programs have suffered 

from lack of adequate support. The President’s FY 2009 budget includes the funding 

requests that had been made as part of the FY 2008 budget. 

National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program 

NIST assumed leadership of the NEHRP in 2005, but the program appears to be 

early in its development stages within NIST. In 2006, the secretariat for the program was 

formally created. After that time (i.e., in FY 2006 and FY 2007), the primary activities of 

the program were associated with the start-up of the secretariat and with statutory 

compliance activities. 

The NEHRP has strong leadership and good overall perspective on direction, 

objectives, and management. There has been limited technical progress on earthquakerelated issues within NIST. Staffing and integration with other BFRL projects (multihazard) still need to be addressed. The NEHRP is a multi-agency partnership: the 

partners are the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), NIST, the NSF, and 

the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Since the lead agency role was assigned to NIST, 

the following activities have taken place: 

y The establishment of the Interagency Coordinated Committee (ICC), which 

consists of the Directors of FEMA, NIST (Chair), NSF, USGS, the Office of 

Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of Management and Budget; 

y The establishment of an Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards 

Reduction (ACEHR) that reports to the NIST Director; 

y Initiation of the development of an updated strategic plan (a draft of the plan is 

to be reviewed by ACEHR in 2008); as directed by the ICC, performance of a 

gap analysis of the current 2001-2005 Strategic Plan, on the basis of 

37 
stakeholder comments received in the spring of 2006 and on feedback from 

ACEHR; this effort resulted in nine areas of added emphasis for the plan 

identified with particular lead agencies; 

y Development of coordinated NEHRP agency budgets (although NEHRP itself 

has no control over budgets of other agencies); and 

y Preparation and submission of annual NEHRP reports to Congress. The annual 

resources associated with the NEHRP secretariat office within the BFRL are 

currently $750,000 (redirected from BFRL research funds) and $85,000 from 

each of the partner institutions (FEMA, NSF, and USGS). In addition, the 

BFRL provides administrative support to the NEHRP. 

 Care should be taken that the role of the overall management of the NEHRP does 

not interfere with the BFRL technical programs associated with earthquake engineering. 

DISASTER RESILIENT STRUCTURES AND COMMUNITIES (FIRES) 

The extent of damage from wildland-urban interface fires has grown as a result of 

increased construction at that interface, which in turn has been aggravated where the 

weather has become hotter and drier. The problem area provides new technical 

challenges with the need to cover spatial scales ranging from submeter (to define fuel 

elements) to the regional scales (governing the terrain and winds that determine the 

propagation of the wildland fires). The problem requires an interdisciplinary approach to 

take into account socioeconomic factors that determine the type of construction and 

spatial distribution of the homes impacted by the fires. The BFRL is uniquely qualified 

to address the many facets of the wildland fires, drawing on its competencies in 

characterizing and modeling fire spread in buildings, its large-scale fire facilities for 

testing at multiple scales, its extensive connections in the fire community internationally, 

and its expertise in deriving lessons from fire investigations—particularly the skills 

demonstrated in the WTC and the Rhode Island Station nightclub fire investigations. 

The WUI technical plan includes (1) the development of databases of fuels at the 

WUI; (2) the development of predictive tools bridging the multiple scales in communities 

at risk, extending the capabilities of the Wildland Fire Dynamic Simulator (WFDS); 

(3) the measurement of the fire resilience of WUI economies at the community scale; and 

(4) the development of risk-reduction strategies. Impressive progress has been made 

toward achieving these goals in a relatively short time with the resources provided under 

the America COMPETES Act and with extensive collaborations such as those with the 

U.S. Forest Service, the University of California at Riverside, San Diego State 

University, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the City of San 

Diego Fire Department, Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research 

Organisation (CSIRO), the Forest Engineering Institute in Canada, and the Building 

Research Institute in Japan. Using facilities at NIST, models are being tested with data 

on the fires involving the following: single Douglas fir trees, the initiation of crown fires, 

grass fires, and fires in forest stands. The applicability of the WFDS to model 

community-scale fires has been demonstrated, but there is need for a controlled 

experiment involving a community fire. Fire investigations have been conducted on the 

October 2007 fires in San Diego County, employing post-fire analyses of both structure 

38 
ignitions and the fire spread travel through the wildland to the urban interface. A major 

innovation of the program is the systematic treatment of the role of so-called fire brands 

as a source of ignition, including study of the vulnerabilities of building elements such as 

roof structure and materials of construction, based on both wind tunnel tests conducted at 

the BRI in Japan and the post-fire investigation of the October 2007 San Diego WUI fire. 

The BFRL should prepare technology roadmaps that clearly indicate the use of 

additional funding for the BFRL and indicate with precision and rigor the milestones 

being targeted and the affected stakeholders. The BFRL should fully embrace portfolio 

management tools and processes for the totality of the research programs being 

conducted across the laboratory. The laboratory should also move beyond the 

characterization of components to that of systems, as exemplified by work for the WTC 

and what is clearly emerging for WUI work. The focus on systems is critical to the 

science of measurement and U.S. competitiveness. New technologies from systems 

engineering, dynamical systems, and information technology should be examined and 

applied where appropriate. 

39 
Overall Conclusions 

The technical merit of the programs reviewed within the BFRL overall is very 

high and in several instances at a state-of-the-art level; these programs have clear ties to 

the overall BFRL Strategic Priority Areas and are well aligned with the mission of NIST. 

With few exceptions the BFRL staff whose work was reviewed are fully aware of work 

being done elsewhere and have exceptional links with the external community. There is 

good balance in the BFRL work between anticipatory longer-term research and activities 

that respond to the immediate needs of customers. 

Equipment and facilities supporting current BFRL work are excellent and, except 

in noted cases, do not appear to be a limiting factor with respect to research efforts. The 

updating and modernizing of related BFRL test equipment and procedures must 

continuously be considered, as such equipment is central to the mission of NIST. The 

BFRL staff has a critical mass of scientific and technical competencies and is well 

qualified to conduct the programs now underway. The panel has serious concerns 

relative to the attracting, recruiting, training, and retaining of staff for future needs. The 

BRFL needs to develop a plan to address present and future staffing needs, mentoring 

and staff development, retention strategies, technical and project management training, 

and the provision of the human resources support necessary to implement the plan 

without unduly taxing the time of scientific personnel. Available funding, at least 

prospectively, appears adequate for success in most current areas of work if the funding 

materializes. National economic opportunities and global environmental threats justify 

considerably more funding on energy-related work. 

The BFRL has a strong foundation and record of excellent results in achieving 

program objectives and disseminating results and products into practice. The panel was 

presented with a clear articulation of the mission and of the strategic directions for the 

BFRL. However, this strategic vision is not always complemented by detailed roadmaps 

and associated metrics that could be used to evaluate progress. The current process may 

be effective on a project-by-project basis but may be insufficient as an effective 

methodology for assessing a group of projects with related objectives. 

The BFRL sees Disaster Resilient Structures and Communities (Hurricanes and 

Earthquakes) as a key focus area for addressing the goals of the America COMPETES 

Act and the American Competitiveness Initiative. In FY 2008, the BFRL’s funding 

levels under the America COMPETES Act were not increased as had been anticipated. 

As a result, the programs under this area have suffered from lack of adequate support. 

These programs are just now taking shape. The panel’s recommendations relative to the 

wildland-urban interface fire research in support of the America COMPETES Act and the 

ACI are twofold: (1) the BFRL should fully embrace technical portfolio management 

tools and processes, and (2) the BFRL should utilize new technologies from systems 

engineering, dynamical systems, and information technology to take advantage of new 

technologies that complement its existing strengths in physics-based modeling and 

testing. 

40