Building codes & standards

News and Updates

NIST Establishes Expert Team to Investigate the Champlain Towers South Collapse

August 25, 2021

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today the expert team members who will

A man in a construction hat points to damage on a concrete column lying on the ground while another researcher looks on.

NIST Will Conduct Technical Investigation Into the Collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condominium

June 30, 2021

SURFSIDE, Fla. — Today the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced it would launch a full technical

Major New Building Standard Can Map Out Tornado Threat for the First Time

June 21, 2021

Of the natural hazards in Mother Nature’s arsenal, tornadoes are some of the most vicious. But while other hazards are regularly considered in building designs

Projects and Programs

Collapse Assessment of Buildings under Seismic Loading

NIST recently completed a multi-year study of three structural steel framing systems to evaluate the correlation between ASCE/SEI 7 (ASCE 2010) and ASCE/SEI 41

Sustainable Engineered Materials

To develop and deploy measurement science tools that enable the manufacturing, construction, and transportation industries to reliably assess the performance of

National Fire Research Laboratory: Research Development and Operations Project

At present, there is no research facility in the world that allows scientists and engineers to conduct research on the response of real-scale structural systems

Assessment of Available Collapse Simulation Methods for Use in Performance-Based Seismic Engineering Project

While it is a key aspect of structural analyses that support current Performance-Based Seismic Engineering (PBSE), "structural collapse" is not clearly defined

Publications

Energy Price Indices and Discount Factors for Life-Cycle Cost Analysis – 2021 Annual Supplement to NIST Handbook 135

April 12, 2021

Author(s)

Priya Lavappa, Joshua Kneifel

This is the 2021 edition of energy price indices and discount factors for performing life-cycle cost analyses of energy and water conservation and renewable

Structural Performance of Nuclear Power Plant Concrete Structures Affected by Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) - Task 1: Assessing In-Situ Mechanical Properties of ASR-Affected Concrete

February 8, 2021

Author(s)

Fahim Sadek, Travis E. Thonstad, Sorin Marcu, Jonathan Weigand, timothy J. barrett, Hai S. Lew, Long T. Phan, Adam L. Pintar

This report describes the results of Task 1 of a five-task comprehensive research program being conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology

Structural Performance of Nuclear Power Plant Concrete Structures Affected by Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) - Task 2: Assessing Bond and Anchorage of Reinforcing Bars in ASR-Affected Concrete

February 3, 2021

Author(s)

Travis E. Thonstad, Jonathan Weigand, Fahim Sadek, Sorin Marcu, timothy J. barrett, Hai S. Lew, Long T. Phan, Adam L. Pintar

This report describes the results of Task 2 of a five-task comprehensive research program being conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology

Learning from Hurricane Maria's Impacts on Puerto Rico: A Progress Report

January 19, 2021

Author(s)

Joseph Main, Maria K. Dillard, Erica D. Kuligowski, Benjamin Davis, Jazalyn D. Dukes, Kenneth W. Harrison, Jennifer Helgeson, Katherine J. Johnson, Marc L. Levitan, Judith Mitrani-Reiser, Scott J. Weaver, DongHun Yeo, Luis D. Bermúdez, Joel Cline, Thomas Kirsch

On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated much of Puerto Rico, damaging buildings that its communities relied upon for medical care, safety

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