Engineering Laboratory

The Engineering Laboratory promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology for engineered systems in ways that enhance economic security and improve quality of life.

Two firefighters look over the last flames inside a compartment where the flammability of cross-laminated timber buildings is being tested.

New NIST Roadmap Charts Path to Reduced Fire Hazards from Materials

Lighting a Path to 'Smarter' Homes, Roads, and Bridges

A home in the mountains of Puerto Rico lies in ruins as a result of the extreme force winds of Hurricane Maria.

NIST Launches Study of Hurricane Maria’s Impact on Puerto Rico

News and Updates

NIST: Blockchain Provides Security, Traceability for Smart Manufacturing

February 11, 2019

Engineers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) needed a way to secure smart manufacturing...

Tested in the Flames

December 21, 2018

FIRES START WITH SIMPLE INGREDIENTS—fuel, oxygen, and a spark—but combustion scientists still struggle to understand...

A rectangular-shaped model of a thatched roof is attacked by embers emitted from the pipe-shaped mouth of the NIST Dragon device.

A Fire-Breathing Dragon Helps Fight Ember Attacks on Thatched-Roof Buildings

December 17, 2018

Visitors to the historic mountain villages in central Japan marvel at the elegance of the steep thatched-roof...

An aerial drone sits on a launch pad before lifting off to start the NIST performance test course. Three sections of the course, poles with white bucket-shaped targets attached, are seen in the background.

NIST Performance Tests for Aerial Response Robots Become National Standard

December 04, 2018

Tracking the spread of a wildfire. Searching for a missing person. Detecting toxic fumes after an explosion before...

Events

Circular image containing a network of stylized MBE-related icons.

Model-Based Enterprise Summit 2019

April 01, 2019 to April 04, 2019

Background Decentralization of manufacturing systems has amplified the problem of collecting and communicating the product and process specifications needed to...

NIST Workshop on Smart Grid Testbeds and Collaborations

April 11, 2019

NIST will hold a series of regional workshops to explore the diversity of smart grid testbed capabilities, and ways to develop a collaborative environment...

NIST Workshop on Smart Grid Testbeds and Collaborations II

April 23, 2019

NIST will hold a series of regional workshops to explore the diversity of smart grid testbed capabilities, and ways to develop a collaborative environment...

NIST Workshop on Smart Grid Testbeds and Collaborations III

April 30, 2019

NIST will hold a series of regional workshops to explore the diversity of smart grid testbed capabilities, and ways to develop a collaborative environment...

Industry Impacts

Photo of a burnt faceplate from a firefighter's gear

Firefighter Protective Equipment

Firefighters rely on self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCBA) to protect them from dangerous heat and toxic smoke. NIST research helped to improve industry...

Cityscape in the background. Solar panels in the foreground.

Framing the Future of the Electric Grid

The U.S. electrical distribution system is a patchwork of 100+ years of upgrades that create basic reliability issues and expose entire regions to unnecessary...

Net-Zero Energy House

To decrease the $225 billion that U.S. consumers spend each year in household energy costs will require accurate, reliable information about how new...

Structural Resilience of Infrastructure

The best way to prevent buildings, bridges and other structures from collapsing—whether because of natural forces, human error or malicious attacks—is to learn...

Software

CFAST

The Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport, CFAST, is a computer program that fire investigators, safety officials, engineers, architects and builders...

VCCTL Software

(Return to Cement Hydration and Degradation Modeling Software) The Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL) software provides a virtual testing...

FDS and Smokeview

Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a form of the Navier-...

BEES

The BEES ( B uilding for E nvironmental and E conomic S ustainability) software brings to your fingertips a powerful technique for selecting cost-effective,...

CONTAM

CONTAM is a multizone indoor air quality and ventilation analysis computer program designed to help you determine: (a) airflows: infiltration, exfiltration,...

STEP File Analyzer and Viewer

The free STEP File Analyzer and Viewer (SFA) opens a STEP (ISO 10303 –STandard for Exchange of Product model data) Part 21 file (.stp or .step file extension)...

EVAP-COND

EVAP-COND is a software package that contains NIST's simulation models for a finned-tube evaporator and condenser. The "tube-by-tube" modeling scheme allows...

Tools & Instruments

Micro-Combined Heat and Power Device Test Facility

NIST has developed a test facility for micro-combined heat and power (micro-CHP) devices to measure their performance over a range of different operating...

Smart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) Test Bed

The Smart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) Test Bed is comprised of three major components: Computer-Aided Technologies (CAx) Lab Manufacturing Lab Data publication...

Integrating Sphere-based Weathering Device

In the artificial ultraviolet (UV) weathering of materials, a need exists for weathering devices that can uniformly illuminate test specimens with a high level...

Robotics Test Facility

Located on the NIST Gaithersburg campus, the Robotics Test Facility – also known as Building 207 – is a laboratory for developing standard methods of measuring...