An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Engineering Laboratory Fiscal Year 2014 (2015) / Chapter Skim
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3 Fire Research Division
3 Fire Research Division
Pages 21-36
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From page 21... ...
The FRD strives to provide leadership for advancing the theory and practice of fire safety engineering, fire-fighting, fire investigation, fire testing, fire data management, and intentional burning. 1 The FRD consists of five staff groups -- Fire Fighting Technology, Engineered Fire Safety, Flammability Reduction, Wildland-Urban Interface Fire, and the National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL)
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From page 22... ...
Presentations, articles in the fire service print, and online media provide opportunities for fire service organizational involvement, and the use of social media has recently been explored. Wildland-Urban Interface Fires Thrust The WUI problem is growing at a very fast rate and may grow even faster as a result of climatic changes and an increase in the proximity between wildland and residential homes.
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From page 23... ...
Fire Risk Reduction in Buildings Residential Safety Thrust The governing objective of this thrust is to reduce deaths, injuries, and property losses in residences through application of measurement science, with recent focus on cigarettes, mattresses, smoke alarms, and upholstered furniture. The main topics are evaluation of innovative processes, technologies, and materials to improve the fire performance of materials and other products; smoke detection through innovative systems and improvement of smoke alarms in dwellings; and guidance on upholstered furniture.
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From page 24... ...
Performance-Based Design Thrust The broad goals for the performance-based design thrust include developing and validating modeling tools to predict the evolution of fire and ensuing hazards and the development of performancebased methods to predict and evaluate fire behavior of steel and concrete structures. The latter includes delivery of validated and improved tools, guidance, and draft standards for the fire resistance design and assessment of structures.
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From page 25... ...
This new capability would enable fire-structure interactions, treatment of immersed boundaries, adaptive mesh refinement, and better physics-based, fully coupled pyrolysis models to compute online heat release rates from a variety of burning materials. There are no science-based measurement procedures for evaluating the performance of an entire building structure under load or for realistic fire scenarios.
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From page 26... ...
Efforts on the evolution of the NFRL and the new FDS capabilities need to be closely coordinated. Overall Assessment The NFRL team has done an excellent job in designing and preparing to create a new fire test facility that will be unmatched worldwide.
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From page 27... ...
The technical program developed and executed by the FRD has had great impact, in that its measurements have supported the creation of new standards and codes based on fundamental science and engineering principles, provided the foundation for creation of new fire-fighting training materials and tactics, developed technologies for life safety equipment, created and distributed widely used fire modeling tools, and invented a standard procedure for generating firebrands. PORTFOLIO OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE Accomplishments The FRD covers a wide range of expertise in fire science, from combustion dynamics to firefighter tactics that include competence in experimentation, modeling, and computational methods.
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From page 28... ...
The staff are well aware of the need to simplify and extend science and engineering principles to practical applications. Serving as a bridge between fire science and fire-fighting communities, FRD staff have translated scientifically based content into training materials for firefighters and specifications for their equipment.
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From page 29... ...
Increased collaboration with the USFS would enhance understanding of the variables affecting WUI fire impact on communities, such as vegetation, topography, and weather-related parameters (e.g., temperature, humidity, and wind)
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From page 30... ...
However, validation of FDS for large and WUI fires as well as structural load evaluations will likely require access to larger computing systems. The new robot testing center for evaluating and setting standards for the robots used in searchand-recovery missions is a good first step in this area of research.
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From page 31... ...
Fire dynamics information has been included in the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) Essentials of Fire Fighting, and a fire dynamics addendum is being published for Fundamentals of Fire Fighter Skills.
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From page 32... ...
The division has made measurements to support the creation of new standards and codes, provided the foundation for new fire-fighting training materials and tactics, developed technologies for life safety equipment (e.g., the SCBA lens) , developed new standards for flammability or smoldering of materials and for fire and smoke detection, created and distributed fire modeling tools, created new models for material properties at elevated temperatures and recommendations for designing new buildings, and invented a standard procedure (Dragon)
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From page 33... ...
The Fire Research Division should give special attention to advanced thermomechanical modeling and associated experiments, real-time data acquisition in the field at wildland-urban interface fire events, communication through social media, and computational modeling for new Fire Dynamic Simulator goals. Laboratories and equipment within the legacy portion of the FRD appear adequate.
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From page 34... ...
It is important that the FRD continue work to establish guidelines for protection of homes in WUI areas. Modifications to the FDS modeling approaches may be needed for application in WUI fires.
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From page 35... ...
Since 2000, FRD staff have published more than 240 papers, including in peer-reviewed scientific publications, conference presentations, NIST technical notes, and special publications. The program allowing guest researchers and postdoctoral researchers to work at the FRD is utilized well as a source of new ideas and competences and is an excellent source for assessing potential staff.
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