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7
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
61
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62
AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
PANEL MEMBERS
Robert A. Altenkirch, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Chair
Ross B. Corotis, University of Colorado at Boulder, Vice Chair
Craig L. Beyler, Hughes Associates, Inc.
Donald B. Bivens, DuPont Fluorochemicals
Randy R. Bruegman, Clackamas County Fire District #1, Oregon
Tsu-Wei Chou, University of Delaware
Joseph P. Colaco, CBM Engineers, Inc.
Martin Fischer, Stanford University
Kristin H. Heinemeier, Brooks Energy and Sustainability Laboratory
Robert J. Hitchcock, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Susan D. Landry, Albemarle Corporation
John Mitchell, University of Wisconsin
Adel F. Sarofim, University of Utah
Jim W. Scaly, Architect/Building Code Consultant, Dallas, Texas
William K. Secre, Master Builders, Inc.
Frieder Seible, University of California, San Diego
E. Sarah Slaughter, MOCA Systems
Elaine M. Yorkgitis, Automotive Division/3M
Submitted for the panel by its Chair, Robert A. Altenkirch, and its Vice Chair, Ross B. Corotis, this
assessment of the fiscal year 2003 activities of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory is based on
site visits by individual panel members, a formal meeting of the panel on February 27-28, 2003, in
Gaithersburg, Maryland, and materials provided by the laboratory.
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BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH LABORATORY
63
LABORATORY-LEVEL REVIEW
The mission of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) is to meet the measurement and
standards needs of the building and fire safety communities. The BFRL is organized in four divisions:
the Materials and Construction Research Division, Building Environment Division, Fire Research Divi-
sion, and Office of Applied Economics (see Figure 7.1~. The first three divisions are responsible for
BFRL's main technical thrusts: advanced construction technology, high-performance construction ma-
terials, enhanced building performance, and fire loss reduction. Technical work is also under way in the
Office of Applied Economics (OAE). In addition, BFRL performs activities in the area of codes and
standards. This chapter provides an assessment of the laboratory overall, and the units and activities are
discussed in detail in the division reviews in Chapter 14.
| Building and Fire Research Laboratory
- ~0 _~_m _ ~
Research Division Dlvlslon · Fire Fighting Technology
· Construction Metrology and · Mechanical Systems and · Fire Metrology
Automation Controls · Analysis and Prediction
· Structures · Computer-Integrated · Integrated Performance
· Inorganic Materials Building Processes Assessment
· Polymeric Materials · Indoor Air Quality and · Materials and Products
Ventilation
· Thermal Machinery
· Heat Transfer and
l l LO alter ati v D Energy ~ l
Office of Applied Economics
FIGURE 7.1 Organizational structure of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory. Listed under each division
are its groups.
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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
Major Observations
The panel presents the following major observations from its assessment of the Building and Fire
Research Laboratory:
· The panel continues to be impressed by the high quality of scientific and technical work produced
in the Building and Fire Research Laboratory. Commendable efforts are made to reach out to a broad
variety of laboratory customers, ranging from large construction companies to local firefighting units,
from code makers to academic researchers, and from standards committees to the public. BFRL staff
take advantage of the special tools and expertise that exist in the laboratory to provide their customers
with unbiased, technically excellent work focused on the measurement and testing needed to improve
the quality of materials and technologies.
· Overall, staff morale at BFRL is good. Staff show excitement at and derive satisfaction from the
opportunity to devote their talents to the challenges and opportunities associated with homeland security
issues, which are many and require careful planning to achieve the effective balance of longer-term
basic research and timely applications of results.
· The reorganizations in late 2000 and in 2002 within BFRL are proceeding well. Peaceful coexist-
ence has been readily achieved, and the time is ripe for seeking and taking advantage of opportunities for
synergy.
· Combining two formerly separate divisions into the Materials and Construction Research Divi-
sion has produced an opportunity for beneficial synergistic effects; increased interactions across the
groups could lead to significant future successes.
· The National Construction Safety Team Act presents a tremendous opportunity for BFRL. The
laboratory still has to define a strategy for deploying resources to an investigation and, once completed,
for disseminating the results. In addition, findings may have an impact on future research and codes and
standards application; a plan needs to be developed to ensure that the results of the investigation are
applied appropriately in industry.
· The laboratory has taken early steps toward the development of a strategic plan and of perfor-
mance metrics. Next steps should include the specification of time lines, milestones, and interdependen-
cies.
~ 1
· BFRL's existing expertise and programs have placed it in an excellent position to make many
positive contributions to the nation's homeland security efforts. The panel is very supportive of BFRL's
ongoing and planned activities but cautions that it is vital for the laboratory to maintain a balance
between short-term investigative work and long-term programs aimed at developing research and appli-
cations that are broadly relevant. The laboratory must take care to preserve its strong relationships with
existing customers, in part by demonstrating how the homeland security work will help the laboratory
continue to meet those customers' needs. Also, the laboratory will face new and complex challenges in
the personnel and project management areas associated with a large, multiorganization project, and new
skills and people will be needed for this task. Specifically, there has to be a clear definition of the
involvement of all relevant groups in the World Trade Center (WTC) investigation. The WTC investi-
gation plan has been fleshed out to address specific objectives encompassing multiorganizational
projects. However, organizational and work-related plans need to be defined by a detailed work break-
down structure, milestones, and schedules, so that the project can be effectively managed and so that its
status can be clearly communicated. Such a large effort merits a dedicated and skilled project manage-
ment staff. Plans should include strategies for taking advantage of any opportunities presented to expand
the laboratory's expertise and relevance.
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BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH LABORATORY
65
· Structural fire testing is both an important element of homeland security work and an appropriate
long-term programmatic growth area for BFRL and its customers. The laboratory should encourage
pursuit of the construction of a state-of-the-art facility for the fire testing of structures under load as part
of the homeland security effort and should make a commitment to sustaining a structural fire research
program over the long term. This is an area in which BFRL is uniquely positioned to do high-quality,
high-impact work.
· For BFRL to have an impact on the construction industry (and ultimately the public), the
laboratory's technical knowledge and results must be utilized in codes and standards and adopted as the
industry' s normal practices. High-quality and important test and standards work is already occurring in
BFRL, but coordination across projects at the laboratory level is needed; this coordination should
include monitoring the allocation of staff expertise and time to accomplish the development, adoption,
and use of regulations.
· BFRL staff remain conflicted and confused about issues pertaining to intellectual property proce-
dures and policies at NIST. Management should communicate its philosophy about when patents and
copyrights should be pursued, the personal and laboratory costs and benefits associated with such
pursuits, the level of support that management is willing to provide for such efforts, and clear procedures
for their pursuit.
Technical Merit
The panel continues to be impressed by the high quality of scientific and technical work produced in
BFRL. Many projects exemplify the ways in which laboratory staff use the expertise, instrumentation,
and simulation and modeling tools that are often unique to BFRL to take advantage of NIST' s singular
role as an unbiased voice focused on measurement and testing to improve the quality of building
technologies and materials. Examples of projects with high technical quality and merit are listed below.
· Within the Materials and Construction Research Division:
The Inorganic Materials and the Polymeric Materials Groups develop test methods and predic-
tive tools for next-generation construction materials such as high-performance concrete, coatings, and
sealants. Each works over size scales from the nanometer level to the macroscopic level and seeks out,
develops, and uses state-of-the-art analytical and measurement tools. The Inorganic Materials Group is
sophisticated in its use of modeling, databases, and other computer-based tools. The Polymeric Materi-
als Group is highly proactive in developing laboratory automation and accelerated durability testing.
The strength of the materials groups is their work in establishing the fundamental bases of the
durability of building materials. Staff have expertise in the broad range of disciplines that constitute
materials science and engineering: chemistry, physics, engineering, environmental health and safety,
and economics. The umbrella project of the Inorganic Materials Group, referred to as the HYPERCON
program, recently completed the second year of a 3-year consortium aimed at developing and validating
its Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL). The program continues to make strides
in measuring, understanding, and predicting the performance of high-performance concrete.
The division is providing significant technical contributions to the laboratory's homeland
security work, including efforts in the investigation of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers collapse,
structural fire protection, and building vulnerability reduction.
· Within the Building Environment Division:
The Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group has conducted significant basic research on air
and contaminant flow in conventional and hybrid ventilation systems and has disseminated this informa-
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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
tion to the technical community. Members of the group have been leaders in the development of
standards and design tools for ventilation and indoor air quality. They are applying their skills to the
evaluation of the effect that control strategies have on energy use and indoor air quality in both residen-
tial and commercial buildings.
The Heat Transfer and Alternative Energy Systems Group is conducting an alternative-energy
project with the goal of developing measurement techniques, testing methods, rating methodologies,
and simulation methods for photovoltaic systems. This is a solid program that is providing important
baseline data on photovoltaic systems.
· Within the Fire Research Division:
A core of the division's modeling efforts is the development, application, and distribution of
the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS). The FDS software incorporates advanced turbulence models (large
eddy simulation), gas radiation, and scientific visualization in an efficient computational scheme that is
able to run on desktop computers. The capabilities of the model have been enhanced in the recently
released Version 3.0 of FDS by the incorporation of absorption and scattering by droplet sprays,
multigrid capability, a mixture fraction combustion model, and gas radiation. Work is continuing on
further refinements of the model, to include parallelization, soot radiation, improved subgrid turbulence
models, and improved heat and mass transfer at surface boundaries.
The Materials and Products Group has performed high-quality and very relevant work on the
flammability of residential mattresses. The group has worked with the mattress industry over the past 4
years to develop a flammability test method that reflects real-world bed-fire behavior.
· Within the Office of Applied Economics:
OAK's activities identify relevant theoretical advances in applied economics and develop the
means to apply them to the design and construction industry. OAK is recognized as a world leader in the
application of these theories to the built environment.
OAK is particularly strong in the area of enhanced building performance and the development
of tools to aid in decision making for the building and fire safety communities. OAK's software-based
systems have been established as the standard in such areas as life-cycle costing and energy efficiency.
OAK has established the cost/time trade-offs for a number of building and fire systems, including
systems to support building for environmental and economic sustainability, bridge life-cycle costing,
fire safety gear selection, and a decision support system for the Department of Housing and Urban
Development's program for advanced technology for housing.
Organizational Changes
.
Organizationally, BFRL is evolving through a series of changes. In late 2000, the Fire Research
Division was formed from the combination of two divisions. The panel is pleased to report this year that
the transition continues to be going very well. Increased collaboration and good communications within
the division were observed. The division is embracing stakeholder perspectives, broadening its out-
reach, clarifying its goals and objectives, and stabilizing its financial situation.
Last year, BFRL also merged two divisions, Structures and Building Materials, into the Materials
and Construction Research Division. These divisions focus on somewhat different areas, but combining
their expertise will give the laboratory an opportunity to lay the groundwork for a future in which
materials are engineered to meet specific long-term structural performance requirements. The panel has
observed that these different cultures are coexisting peacefully but separately, and it continues to urge a
focus on areas of potential synergy.
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BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH LABORATORY
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Program Relevance and Effectiveness
As mentioned above, laboratory staff have had increasing success building relationships with their
customers in a wide variety of industries and communities. The examples below illustrate activities that
are relevant and effectively planned and/or performed:
· Within the Materials and Construction Research Division:
Both the Inorganic Materials and the Polymeric Materials Groups are well connected in indus-
try and relatively well connected in academia. Both groups provide technical support for improving
standards and criteria for evaluation, selection, and use of their respective materials and, additionally,
support the needs of various federal agencies in addressing the construction and infrastructure needs of
the nation.
The HYPERCON program of the Inorganic Materials Group continues to effectively support
and generate interest in the construction community, as represented by materials suppliers to that
industry. Over the past year, VCCTL has been accessed via the Internet by about 9,000 users per month,
from more than 80 countries. It is clearly seen as a valuable resource in the computational and experi-
mental materials science of concrete and its constituents.
As the VCCTL consortium completes the last of its 3 years, the panel is very interested in
seeing the development of a plan to take the tools of VCCTL not only to the 4,000 ready-mix concrete
producers of the United States as well as those of other nations, but also to construction companies and
concrete contractors, building designers including engineers and architects, and prospective owners of
concrete-intensive structures. While VCCTL has been designed to be used as one large modeling
package, some individual components of VCCTL may prove to be of greater use than others to certain
entities, and they should be packaged in such a way that their effective stand-alone use is possible. The
plan that the panel recommends should additionally provide a clear means for application of VCCTL
and its components to code and standards development.
With its strong consortium support, the Polymeric Materials Group has both firm financial
backing and a rich supply of industrial input on what is of most relevance to manufacturers of coatings,
sealants, and other polymeric building materials.
The division's work relevant to homeland security activities includes efforts in support of the
investigation of the World Trade Center' s Twin Towers collapse.
· Within the Building Environment Division:
The research projects of the Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group represent an important
component of the effort in the area of healthy and sustainable buildings. The current projects are a
natural outgrowth of the need to understand the role of airflow in buildings on energy use and on
occupant health and comfort. The projects continue to evolve to meet changing national priorities. The
group is recognized nationally for its expertise and is working with other government agencies on
problems of national interest. One of the key areas is that of airflow and pollutant model development.
The group has developed a number of analytical methods that are widely used in the research, develop-
ment, and design communities.
The Heat Transfer and Alternative Energy Systems Group is conducting an alternative energy
project with the goal of developing measurement techniques, rating methodologies, and simulation
methods for stationary fuel cells. The proposed testing methodology describes in detail the tests that will
be performed and how the basic characteristics will be determined. This appears to be a solid plan that
will yield results that will become increasingly important as the fuel cell industry develops.
The Mechanical Systems and Controls Group has led the buildings industry in the develop-
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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
ment of the Building Automation and Control Network (BACnet@)) protocol, which enables the use of
and communication between different types of control systems in commercial buildings. A second
important building-related project of the group is that on automated commissioning and fault detection
and diagnostics (FDD) of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment.
· Within the Fire Research Division:
Experimental and theoretical tools are being applied to the goals of reducing fire loss and
improving firefighter protection. Progress is being made on the search for improved fire-resistant
materials.
The Fire Dynamics Simulator has been widely used for fire reconstruction, for providing
educational tools for firefighters and the public, and for guiding the research program through the design
of experiments.
The Fire Research Division (FRD) has a significant role in NIST's World Trade Center follow-
up and homeland security work. The staff is energized by the challenges and opportunities posed by
these efforts, and they need to continue to position the laboratory to ensure their future role in this area.
The division, and in particular its Fire Fighting Technology Group, have done an excellent job at
outreach in providing firefighter support.
One area in which FRD is currently participating, but on which it should focus more, is the area
of codes and standards. This could be facilitated either by forming a subgroup that has more staff or by
creating a division that concentrates on codes and standards. This group could provide the staff support
for the large number of FRD personnel who now serve and often chair standards committees.
One specific problem that FRD appears to have concerns the National Environmental Policy
Act (NEPA). In order for FRD to gather data with a planned fire test, NIST must go through a formal
process of obtaining permits. This process is expensive and time-consuming. This NEPA permitting
process appears to be a hindrance to the FRD's gathering of data by means of this avenue of fieldwork.
· Within the Office of Applied Economics:
The projects in OAK focus specifically on meeting the requirements of the building and fire
safety community, particularly through the assessment of the adequacy of economic resources to ac-
complish this community's objectives within a set of available choices. Many of the projects within
OAK are funded from external sources and respond directly to the needs of the community, thereby
ensuring direct relevance to the community.
OAK is active in all of the BFRL mission goals and in the overall NIST strategic objectives. It
is particularly strong in the area of enhanced building performance. In addition, OAK develops critical
tools to aid in decision making for the building and fire safety communities. Its collaboration with the
other BFRL divisions (Materials and Construction Research, Building Environment, and Fire Research)
further leverages the expertise and impact of the BFRL as a whole.
OAK's recent contributions of Web-enabled decision support tools allow an expanding popu-
lation of users throughout the United States and internationally to understand and utilize economic
methods to assess different technological alternatives. OAK currently provides Internet access to most
of its software programs.
· Within activities related to BFRL's standards and codes work:
The audience for BFRL's work in standards and codes includes the manufacturers of relevant
products and regulators in the United States and in other countries. However, for BFRL's work to
influence standards and codes, staff must take into account regulators' need for timely information.
BFRL has a key role in the follow-up after major building failures and fires. This role includes
supporting the analysis of methods of exiting buildings and facilities in real or perceived emergencies.
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BUILDING AND FIRE RESEARCH LABORATORY
69
Laboratory Resources
Funding sources for the Building and Fire Research Laboratory are shown in Table 7.1.
The panel's concerns about funding, highlighted in the 2002 report, are somewhat lessened this
year. However, the panel is concerned about staffing and hiring (there is a need, emphasized by BFRL
staff during skip-level interviews (sessions in which management does not participate), for a greater
number of technicians, and questions remain about how best to staff the homeland security activities). In
addition, the panel observed space restrictions that may potentially inhibit the technical quality of work,
and there is a need for a clear capital investment plan.
As a result of congressionally allocated funding related to homeland security, BFRL has begun to
receive significant funding, expected to continue in the near term. The panel remains pleased to see that
BFRL has the support of NIST management and Department of Commerce management as it goes
through the budget process and prepares to begin its homeland security-related program. While initial
~ ~ _ _ . _ . . ~ _ _ ~ _
steps have been good and appropriate, the laboratory must be cautious going forward to make careful
decisions about such reprogramming about whether a temporary or a permanent shift in focus is
occurring and to clearly communicate the rationale and final outcome to staff. This is one element of
the broader question of how BFRL will determine and maintain a balance between new homeland
TABLE 7.1 Sources of Funding for the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (in millions of
dollars), FY 2000 to FY 2003
Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Fiscal Year
2000 2001 2002 2003
Source of Funding (actual) (actual) (actual) (July 2003 estimate)
NIST-STRS, excluding Competence 16.6 18.8 26.6 27.5
Competence 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0
STRS, nonbase 1.5 1.9
ATP 0.7 1.1 1.4 1.2
MEP 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
OA/NFG/CRADA 11.2 9.1 11.7 14.4
Other Reimbursable 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.2
STRSWTC R&D
WTC Investigation
Total 30.5 31.2 40.0 43.3
Full-time permanent staff (totally 157 150 156 155
NOTE: Funding for the NIST Measurement and Standards Laboratories comes from a variety of sources. The laboratories
receive appropriations from Congress, known as Scientific and Technical Research and Services (STRS) funding. Compe-
tence funding also comes from NIST's congressional appropriations but is allocated by the NIST director's of lice in multiyear
grants for projects that advance NIST's capabilities in new and emerging areas of measurement science. Advanced Technol-
ogy Program (ATP) funding reflects support from NIST's ATP for work done at the NIST laboratories in collaboration with or
in support of ATP projects. Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) funding reflects support from NIST's MEP for work
related to NIST's support of the MEP centers throughout the United States. NIST laboratories also receive funding through
grants or contracts from other [government] agencies (OA), from nonfederal government (NFG) agencies, and from industry
in the form of cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs).
aThe number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.
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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE NIST MEASUREMENT AND STANDARDS LABORATORIES: FY 2003
security work and existing projects, including contracts with other government agencies. The panel
continues to note that the refinement of a strategic plan may help define criteria that BFRL can apply to
maintaining a proper balance of work. A strategic plan will need a core commitment of internal funds or
stable external funds to support a long-term vision.
In January 2003, staffing for the BFRL included 155 full-time permanent positions, of which 132
were for technical professionals. There were also 38 nonpermanent or supplemental personnel, such as
postdoctoral research associates and temporary or part-time workers. An understanding of the expecta-
tions for long-term staffing levels should allow the laboratory to focus on replacement of talent and on
smooth programmatic transitions when staff retire or depart. The massive, planned homeland security
effort should result in a large number of new people coming, probably temporarily, to work at NIST, and
this may be an opportunity for BFRL to consider what type of new personnel it wishes to recruit when
permanent slots open up and to see many potential candidates in action.
Another potential opportunity in the homeland security effort is the development of a large-scale,
state-of-the-art, structural fire test facility. The laboratory's plans for homeland security activities do
include work on the fire testing of structures under load, but the panel believes that the plan for this
activity can be significantly expanded. Owing to the laboratory's strong expertise in both structural and
fire research and to its existing Large Fire Research Facility, BFRL is in a unique position to build a
robust, long-term program in this area and to utilize this kind of facility effectively. Homeland security
funding could be used to initiate work on a state-of-the-art facility, but the laboratory must make a
commitment to sustaining the facility and the program over the long term. In order to secure the funding
for such a facility and to lay the groundwork for a vigorous and effective program in this area, the panel
recommends that BFRL define its vision of what a state-of-the-art facility for large-scale structural fire
testing should be and what the test objectives should be, and that it pursue a development, implementa-
tion. and maintenance strategy to secure funding and build and maintain the program.
Laboratory Responsiveness
The panel found the laboratory to be open and responsive to recommendations made in past assess-
ment reports.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
homeland security
