Building codes & standards

News and Updates

Two men stand a table in a warehouse space, looking at a broken piece of concrete that one is holding.

NIST to Provide Public Update on Hurricane Maria and Champlain Towers South Investigations During Advisory Committee Meeting March 6-7, 2024

March 4, 2024

The meeting will be livestreamed each day.

A slab of concrete with ragged edges sits on a warehouse floor as researchers use equipment to extract core samples.

NIST Provides Update on Investigation Into the Collapse of Champlain Towers South

September 7, 2023

Preliminary evaluations show additional deviations from design in pool deck construction, no underground voids.

NIST Earthquake Engineering Group Members Conduct a Preliminary Earthquake Reconnaissance Mission to Turkey

August 31, 2023

In the early morning hours of February 6, 2023, a M W 7.8 earthquake occurred in Turkey, followed by four additional earthquakes throughout the day with MW of 5

Projects and Programs

Worker looks over the disaster site at New York City's World Trade Center

Structural Performance for Multi-hazards Program

Ongoing

This program addresses the gap between basic research and building codes, standards, and practice through measurement science research to: (1) predict

NEHRP Extramural Research

Completed

Research performed by the EL Earthquake Engineering Group (2EG) consists of a combination of in-house and extramural research. Policy related work is awarded to

WUI Building and Fire Codes and Standards Project

Completed

Although over 46 million residential structures in the United States are in areas of risk of wildfires, building and fire codes and standards do not provide the

Safety of Building Occupants Project

Ongoing

NIST will develop a model to predict evacuation decision-making during fires through a better understanding and quantification of the risk perceived by

Publications

Premise Plumbing Research Needs and Stakeholder Engagement

November 2, 2023

Author(s)

Andrew K. Persily

Tornado Wind Speed Maps for Building Design: Research and Development of Tornado Risk Assessment Methodology

October 2, 2023

Author(s)

Lawrence A. Twisdale, Sudhan S. Banik, Lauren A. Mudd, Marshall Hardy, Shahriar Quayyum, Fangqian Liu, Melissa K. Faletra, Peter J. Vickery, Marc Levitan, Long Phan

The first-ever engineering-derived tornado wind speed maps have been produced for the contiguous United States. Using multi-variate statistical analysis of 11

Evaluation of Experimental Methods for Burning Velocity of Flammable Refrigerants

September 25, 2023

Author(s)

Gregory T. Linteris

Elucidating the challenges in extracting ultra-slow flame speeds in a closed vessel - A CH2F2 microgravity case study using optical and pressure-rise data

September 25, 2023

Author(s)

Raik Hesse, Chaimae Bariki, Michael Hegetschweiler, Gregory T. Linteris, Heinz Pitsch, Joachim Beeckmann

Refrigerants with a low global warming potential (GWP) possess mild flammability. Hence, a fundamental understanding of their combustion characteristics is

Tools and Instruments

The National Fire Research Laboratory

The National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL) is a unique experimental facility dedicated understanding fire behavior and structural response to fire. The