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Advanced Construction Technology

Structures

Construction Metrology and Automation

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Advanced Construction Technology

Structures

Loss of life and property due to natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, or man-made disasters such as fires or blast events, are escalating sharply due to increasing population density and urban growth in regions of high risk. To address these high-priority issues, we are developing the modeling and simulation tools necessary for evaluating the structural performance of conventional and innovative structural systems under extreme loads, and providing the underpinning measurements for developing and validating those models. The technical challenges are to predict extreme loads based on realistic models; identify and understand failure mechanisms under extreme earthquake, wind, blast, and fire loads; develop advanced modeling and simulation tools to predict structural performance; provide measurements to establish the constitutive properties of components and connections; and to validate model predictions.

This program supports projects in the following topic areas:

  • structural control for protection under extreme loads;
  • new performance-based structural design approaches;
  • next-generation standards for wind loads;
  • high-performance materials and systems (including fiber-reinforced polymer composites) strengthening and rehabilitation of structures;
  • non-destructive evaluation for condition assessment and quality control;
  • progressive collapse of structures.

Contact: John L. Gross

Construction Metrology and Automation

The construction industry faces special challenges in reaping the full benefits the information technology revolution is bringing to many industries. These challenges include low R&D investment, fragmentation, and its unique project-oriented character. Recognizing this, we are developing new technologies and methods to achieve significant cycle-time and life-cycle cost reductions in the delivery of constructed facilities. We are designing hardware and software systems to achieve real-time integration and automation of project management information, integration of temporal data from the construction site into the project management information loop, and open interoperability and communication standards for the transfer of live construction site data. We seek to contribute to breakthrough process changes, first, by enabling the seamless integration and management of project information within the context of an entire life cycle and enterprise wide resource planning system; and second, by bringing live wireless data from the construction site into the project management information loop. The goal is to bridge the information gap between engineering, materials management, on-site work processes, and project control systems. We are conducting research in the following areas:

  • site measurement system interoperability communications standards and practices;
  • measurement processes and metrics for construction component tracking involving large-scale, real-time coordinate tracking systems, including laser and GPS-based systems;
  • enhanced construction object recognition through sensor fusion involving development of new methods for extraction of manufactured component ID, position, and orientation from laser radar data;
  • procedures and metrics for construction range imaging and surface registration involving the development of performance measurements for precision laser radar surveys.

Contact: William Stone

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Date created: August 17, 2001
Last modified: Aug. 02, 2007
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov