An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Programs Fiscal Year 1997 (1997) / Chapter Skim
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7 Building and Fire Research Laboratory
7 Building and Fire Research Laboratory
Pages 149-176
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Chapter 7 Building arid Fire Research Laboratory
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PANEL MEMBERS Thomas L Anderson, Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc., Chair Kenneth W
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The current array of laboratory programs forms a coherent whole in support of the emerging National Construction Goals for research and development. ~ These goals were set out in 1 995 by the Subcommittee on Construction and Building of the Committee on Civilian Industrial Technology of the National Science and Technology Council.
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The Fire Science and Fire Safety Engineering personnel are engaged in work of outstanding technical merit, and the impact of this work on industry is effective and strong. Technology developed by this section of the laboratory enables the construction sector to better incorporate effective and economical protection from fire hazard for humans and structures into constructed facilities.
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Years of delay in making needed improvements have seriously impeded the laboratory's ability to carry out the public safety aspect of its mission. Without a fully functioning fire test facility, quantification of fire safety standards, development of advanced measurement systems, and fire mode} verification are extremely difficult to do.
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remains concerned about the status of the large-scale structural load test facility. It was unclear who the potential users of this testing machine are or how welling they would be to support this facility.
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In this effort, the laboratory is working closely with more than a dozen federal agencies. The National Construction Goals and the new focus on major products have eased the laboratories chronic dilemma of discontinuing programs versus seeking additional funding support.
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There are three of ficial thrusts of the Building and Fire Research programs: High-Performance Materials and Systems for Constructed Facilities, Automation in Construction and Constructed Facilities, and Loss Reduction. Finally, the laboratory's projects fall into five research areas, and this assessment is correspondingly organized into six sections: Performance-Based Standards and Economics, High-Performance Materials and Systems, Mechanical and Environmental Systems, Automation and Information Technology, Structural Engineering, and Fire Science and Fire Safety Engineering.
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The initiative on the Fire Safety Performance Evaluation System aims to establish a "toolkit" for evaluating the designs proposed to meet performance-based standards. This goal is ambitious, considering the astounding range and complexity of possible commercial and industrial fire scenarios.
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However, in the work on the Performance Standard System in Housing and the Fire Safety Performance Evaluation System, companies from the insurance and fire safety industries are not among the stakeholders. Having such industrial partners is necessary to ensure broader acceptance of the new systems.
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provides economic products and services through research and consulting to industry and government agencies in support of productivity enhancement, economic growth, and international competitiveness, with a focus on improving the life-cycle quality and economy of constructed facilities. NIST's mission is to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S.
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Examples include cost-effective compliance with fire safety codes in buildings, national and international performance standards for housing, selection of environmentally and economically balanced building products, and bridge LCC software for assessing new technology materials. Early collaborative efforts between OAK staff and technical personnel should enhance implementation of emerging products (particularly performance-based standards)
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In conjunction with the Physics Laboratory, the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, and the Information Technology Laboratory, the BFRL is exploring the use of bi-angular reflectance distributions to quantify surface and subsurface appearances. This work is a competence project, funded by the director of NTST and designed to build technical expertise in a field of future importance, whose key goals include relating the chemical structure and properties of a coating to its appearance.
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The laboratory has made information dissemination an integral part of its work, as evidenced by the ongoing efforts within the C1KS program. This national approach to sharing integrated knowledge through data structures, knowledge management, and expert systems is being expanded, tested, and shared with various industrial partners, such as the Steel Structures Painting Council and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
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0.1 0.1 Reimbursement Total 4.8 5.0 The staff for research in high-performance materials and systems currently includes 23 FTP positions, of which 1 9 are for technical professionals. There are also four nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, including postdoctoral students and part-time workers.
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In addition, the panel was encouraged to see that researchers in high-performance materials and systems are active on many committees, because such activities help address key needs in the industrial sector. Mechanical and Environmental Systems This section reviews three groups in the Building Environment Division: the Heat Transfer Group, the Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group, and the Thermal Machinery Group.
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Given the negative financial and environmental consequences of the insulation industry's use of asbestos and the pending problems with fiberglass, research in this field is critical to the building industry and specifically to advancements in sustainable design. Another important activity of this group is the development, improvement, and dissemination of the most widely used moisture flow analysis software (MOIST)
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Industrial Impact In general, the construction industry is highly fragmented; as a result, individual companies are unable to support the breadth and quality of research conducted at NIST. The groups in mechanical and environmental systems conduct their research effectively and disseminate the results to users, but they are not reaching all of their potential audience.
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NIST-STRS 3.0 4.2 ATP 0.2 0.1 Measurement Services 0.1 0.0 OA/NF/CRADA 1.9 3.6 Misc. Reimbursement 0.1 0.0 Total 5.2 7.9 The staff for research in Mechanical and Environmental Systems currently includes 21 FTP positions, of which 19 are for technical professionals.
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Planning Within the Building Environment Division, the planning process is on a yearly cycle. Each spring, the five group leaders and the division head assess the progress made on current projects over the past year: whether the milestones established each fall are being met, what changes in direction are appropriate, and whether projects should be terminated.
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Dissemination and adoption of results can only be guaranteed by aiming programs at specific potential user communities. The CICE research currently is overly focused on the industrial sector, which accounts for only 14 percent ofthe construction industry.
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The personnel involved in automation and information technology research are split among three groups in two divisions: the Structural Evaluation Group in the Structures Division, and the Computer Integrated Construction and Mechanical Systems and Controls Groups in the Building Environment Division. Spreading out the staff in this manner may make it more difficult to coordinate the various projects that make up this program.
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2Subcommittee on Construction and Building of the Committee on Civilian Industrial Technology, National Science and Technology Council, "Construction and Building: Federal Research and Development in Support of the U.S. Construction Industry," National Science and Technology Council, Washington, D.C., 1995, pp.
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The staff for research in Structural Engineering currently includes 17 full-time permanent positions, of which 14 are for technical professionals. There are also three nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, including postdoctoral students and part-time workers.
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The combination of basic science and engineering provides valuable synergy unavailable anywhere else and delivers results to industry in a usable form. The major products in these divisions efforts to quantify fire safety measures work on less flammable materials, and development of advanced measurements systems are well conceived and executed.
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Resources Funding sources for Fire Science and Fire Safety Engineering (in millions of dollars) : Fiscal Year 1996 Fiscal Year 1997 (estimated)
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This packaging of multiple small projects into a few major products should have a positive impact on the laboratory's ability to disseminate results and obtain funding. The overall technical merit of laboratory work is quite good; some examples of excellent programs include the work on performance-based standards and true LCC of structures.
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