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An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Engineering Laboratory Fiscal Year 2014 (2015) / Chapter Skim
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5 Materials and Structural Systems Division
Pages 47-54

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From page 47...
... 1 Areas of focus include sustainability, service life prediction and life-cycle assessment of materials performance and safety, and resilient performance of structures. The MSSD is organized into five formal groups: Structures, Inorganic Materials, Polymeric Materials, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, and National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program.
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From page 48...
... Structures The MSSD is performing work on structural robustness and the mitigation of disproportionate collapse. The staff are well-qualified and possess excellent capabilities in structural analysis, computational modeling, and physical validation testing.
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From page 49...
... Staffing needs of the Community Disaster Resilience Program will need to be closely monitored to assure that human resources are adequate and in the appropriate disciplines for the magnitude and scope of the tasks assigned. FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, AND HUMAN RESOURCES Available research infrastructure is adequate for ongoing and anticipated efforts, and in some cases, such as for polymer and materials characterization, MSSD facilities are among the best in the world.
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From page 50...
... Overall, research infrastructure is not an impediment to accomplishment of the division's mission. Dissemination of research results follows fairly traditional lines of peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, internal NIST reports, and input to technical standards.
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From page 51...
... The Office of Applied Economics within the EL is a world-recognized leader in economics of building and has performed state-of-the-art analyses on such topics as the benefit-cost calculation of building protection strategies to address terrorist attacks. Such innovative analytical techniques are called for in evaluating options for infrastructure renewal and community disaster resilience owing to the long time horizons and the great degree of uncertainty involved.
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From page 52...
... Recommendation: The Polymeric Materials Group should build on the mature work in the photophysics of polymeric degradation and expand it to non-ultraviolet degradation effects and should include the data in service life prediction models. Recommendation: The Polymeric Materials Group should engage the solar panel industry, where polymeric materials are used to encapsulate the active, thin films between panes of glass, to examine the industry standard (ethyl vinyl alcohol)
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From page 53...
... Recommendation: The group performing wind research should explore the concept of a virtual wind tunnel based on historic data, new wind speed maps, and computational modeling. Recommendation: The group performing wind research should study microbursts and their potential for external structural damage.
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From page 54...
... The group should use the failure studies to provide a source of data for empirical analysis and refinement and validation/verification of models across and among the groups. Recommendation: The group studying community disaster resilience should incorporate the environment and natural systems into the resilience program and initiatives, which may require new partnerships such as the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Infrastructure Collaborative.
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Key Terms

  • community disaster
  • polymeric materials
  • inorganic materials
  • studying community
  • disproportionate collapse

  • resilience program
  • service life
  • wind research
  • sustainable engineered
  • computational modeling

  • performing wind
  • molecular modeling
  • division staff
  • construction materials
  • follows fairly

  • fairly traditional
  • computational molecular
  • wind tunnel
  • available research
  • results follows

  • structural testing
  • materials characterization
  • nuclear regulatory
  • internal nist
  • structural performance

  • engineering laboratory
  • limestone powder
  • anticipated efforts
  • traditional lines
  • experimental measurements


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