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

Schematic shows the five layers of a typical automobile composite body. Mar and scratch damages from five objects, seen as cracks and crevices in the coating layers, are marked.

To Improve Auto Coatings, New Tests Do More Than Scratch the Surface

September 20, 2018

Know that sickening feeling when you exit the grocery store and find your car has been banged up by a runaway shopping...

NIST Details Steps to Keep Buildings Functioning After Natural Hazards

August 21, 2018

After an earthquake, hurricane, tornado or other natural hazard, it’s considered a win if no one gets hurt and...

Skeleton of bright green and yellow with some pink and dark blue

NIST Shows Laser Ranging Can ‘See’ 3D Objects Melting in Fires

August 08, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used a laser detection and ranging (LADAR...

In this photo, we see a split-screen image of a laboratory fire. The left side shows the fire obscuring the view of an object behind it while the right side shows the same object with the clarity dramatically enhanced using ordinary blue light.

NIST Unblinded Me with Science: New Application of Blue Light Sees Through Fire

July 23, 2018

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated that ordinary blue light can...

Events

NIST Exhibits at the 2018 Grace Hopper Conference

September 26, 2018 to September 28, 2018

NIST will exhibit at the 2018 Grace Hopper Conference George R. Brown Convention Center - Houston, TX Booth Number 5404 The Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) is...

Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission

September 27, 2018

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, in collaboration with NIST, are holding a...

California Public Utilities Commission

October 16, 2018

NIST and the California Public Utilities Commission are holding a meeting on October 16, 2018 to discuss revisions and updates to the Smart Grid...

GCTC-Smart and Secure Cities and Communities Challenge Public Safety SuperCluster and Cybersecurity Workshop

October 29, 2018 to October 30, 2018

The GCTC-SC3’s Public Safety Supercluster (PSSC) is planning to hold a Public Safety Workshop at NIST Headquarters in Gaithersburg, Maryland on Monday, Oct 29...

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

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 STEP File Analyzer and Viewer (SFA) opens a STEP (ISO 10303 –STandard for Exchange of Product model data) Part 21 file and generates a spreadsheet or CSV...

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...

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...

Tools & Instruments

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...

Manufacturing Robotics Testbed

The NIST manufacturing robotics test bed consists of several labs located in three buildings on the main NIST campus. Combined, these serve as a resource for...

The Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF)

The Net-Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) is a unique laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in Gaithersburg, Md...

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...