| NIST has been building
collaborations with the nation's multifaceted construction industry
on issues ranging from the chemical and physical bases of good concrete,
to the fire safety of nursing homes, to pushing the envelope of earthquake
engineering so that buildings can be made to better withstand seismic
disturbances. |
The
Building and Fire Research Laboratory at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology has many ties with
the enormous nationwide construction enterprise by which building materials
are designed, manufactured, and put into place during the construction
and repair of roads, bridges, and buildings. You can browse the list
and links below to learn more:
- BFRL researchers
are working on several computer-integrated
construction projects centered on exploiting computers, databases,
and other information technologies to improve the way buildings
are constructed, the way building materials are manufactured, and
the way structures are maintained.
- BFRL has several
Construction
Materials Reference Laboratories. These comprise the test samples
and protocols of quality assurance to help those labs around the
nation that test cement, concrete, road materials, and roofing materials
remain up-to-date and reliable.
- BFRL is a national
center for earthquake
engineering and has a long repertoire of research ranging from
the seismic performance of different types of buildings, to the
effectiveness of various types of repairs to earthquake damage,
to the development of construction standards.
- BFRL researchers
are working with industry to develop technologies aimed at the surveillance,
understanding, and improvement of indoor air quality.
- As the Laboratory's
name implies, many of BFRL's researchers focus on fire-related issues
such as the flammability of materials, the relationship between
building design and fire
safety, and methods of detecting and extinguishing fires.
- The challenge
of making equipment such as household heating furnaces and washing
machines more energy efficient is on NIST's agenda. Researchers
at NIST develop many of the protocols by which different equipment
designs can be evaluated and compared for the overall efficiency.
To consumers, one visible result of this effort are the little
yellow stickers on new appliances that indicate the energy usage
and cost of operation.
- Through the
Construction and Building
Subcommittee of the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy's National Science and Technology Council, BFRL plays a central
role in planning and coordinating construction and building research
to help assure that the construction industry remains competitive
and capable of producing topnotch, state-of-the-art structures in
the coming years and decades.
Building
Economics.
In addition to
engineering research, BFRL has research economists on staff who are
developing tools for assessing the economic aspects of national construction
goals, the economics of new technology materials, the balance between
the life-cycle environmental and economic performance of building
products, and the life-cycle costs of energy and water conservation
projects in buildings.
Besides
BFRL...... Although most of NIST's connection to the
construction industry naturally is centered in the Building and Fire
Research Laboratory, several of NIST's other labs including the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory,
have construction-related projects under way. In addition NIST's Advanced Technology Program presently is
coordinating a construction-related
focused program of research by industry participants aimed at
developing affordable composite materials for many large-scale applications
including roads, buildings, and bridges. Another ATP focused program
on alternative
refrigerants aims to foster the development of high-risk technologies
for better and environmentally more sound refrigeration and air conditioning
systems.
|
