Fire dynamics & science

News and Updates

A fireball rushes out of the opening of a small metal compartment in a concrete room.

A Machine Learning-Based Solution Could Help Firefighters Circumvent Deadly Backdrafts

October 17, 2022

The NIST team got data from hundreds of backdrafts in the lab to use as a basis for a model that can predict them.

AI May Come to the Rescue of Future Firefighters

August 10, 2022

New research suggests that AI could provide first responders with a much-needed heads-up about a dangerous condition called flashover.

Building that has been destroyed by a tornado

NIST, NSF Award More Than $7.6 Million to Support Disaster Resilience Research

May 4, 2022

The agencies are funding 20 projects to be conducted across 24 institutions through the Disaster Resilience Research Grant (DRRG) program, which they manage

Projects and Programs

Public Health Risks to First Responders

Ongoing

There is growing evidence that firefighters (FF) are being exposed to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) associated with their gear. The source of the

Publications

Oxygen-Limited Fires Inside Under-Ventilated Enclosures (OLIVE-FIRE)

August 9, 2022

Author(s)

Kevin B. McGrattan, Isaac Leventon

This report documents a series of fire experiments performed within steel electrical enclosures. The objective is to validate a simple empirical model that

The NIST 20 MW Calorimetry Measurement System – Exhaust Flow Calibration Using Tracer Gas Dilution

May 10, 2022

Author(s)

Rodney A. Bryant

Exhaust flow measurements have been found to be a significant source of uncertainty for measurements of heat release rate in large-scale fire experiments

The Design and Performance of a Second-Generation Phi Meter

January 5, 2022

Author(s)

Ryan Falkenstein-Smith, Thomas Cleary

This report documents the design and performance of a second-generation phi meter used in multi-scale experimental applications. A constructed second-generation

A calibration and sampling technique for quantifying the chemical structure in fires using GC/MSD analysis

September 23, 2021

Author(s)

Ryan Falkenstein-Smith, Kimberly Harris, Kunhyuk Sung, Tianshui Liang, Anthony Hamins

This work presents an approach to measure, calibrate, and verify local concentrations of combustion products in pool fires steadily burning in a quiescent

Tools and Instruments

Fire Calorimetry Database (FCD)

The National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL) operates calorimeters to measure the heat and combustion products for fires in the range of 50 kW to 20,000 kW