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Technical Note (NIST TN)

Guidelines for Evaluating Fire Blocking Barrier Fabrics

April 18, 2013

Author(s)

Shonali Nazare, William M. Pitts, Shaun M. Flynn, Rick D. Davis, John R. Shields

This document provides guidelines to quantify fire performance properties of fire blocking barrier materials used in soft furnishings. In an attempt to enable a...

Report on High-Rise Fireground Field Experiments

April 10, 2013

Author(s)

Jason D. Averill, Lori Moore-Merrell, Raymond T. Ranellone Jr., Craig G. Weinschenk, Nicole Taylor, Randy Goldstein, Robert Santos, Doug Wissoker, Kathy Notarianni, Kathryn Butler

In order to balance community expectations with limited resources, the fire service and community leaders require scientific data that quantifies the effects of...

Evaluation of Firepots and Gel Fuels

April 5, 2013

Author(s)

Nathan D. Marsh

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has identified a fire and burn hazard associated with a class of products often referred to as firepots...

Performance Analysis of RF-Based Electronic Safety Equipment in a Subway Station and the Empire State Building

March 28, 2013

Author(s)

William F. Young, Catherine A. Remley, Galen H. Koepke, Dennis G. Camell, Jacob L. Healy

We analyze data from NIST field tests in which radio-propagation channel path loss values were measured at approximately the same physical locations where the...

The Performance of Concrete Tile and Terracotta Tile Roofing Assemblies Exposed to Wind-Driven Firebrand Showers

March 28, 2013

Author(s)

Samuel L. Manzello

Concrete tile roofing assemblies (flat and profiled tile) as well as terracotta tile roofing assemblies (flat and profiled tile) commonly used in the USA...

Configuration of profiling tools for C/C++ applications under 64-bit Linux

March 20, 2013

Author(s)

David W. Flater

Application profiling tools are the instruments used to measure software performance at the function and application levels. Without careful configuration of...

Developing Guidelines and Standards for Disaster Resilience of the Built Environment: A Research Needs Assessment (NIST TN 1795)

March 20, 2013

Author(s)

Therese P. McAllister

Two national workshops were convened in 2011 to assist NIST with identifying critical gaps and needs in tools and metrics for assessing the resilience of the...

Combined Stairwell and Elevator Use During Building Evacuation

March 20, 2013

Author(s)

Paul A. Reneke, Bryan L. Hoskins, Richard D. Peacock

Validation Testing of Standard Requirements for Backpack-type Radiation Detectors

March 18, 2013

Author(s)

Leticia S. Pibida, Bruce R. Norman

Two gross count and one radionuclide identification backpack-type radiation detectors (BRDs) were used to validate radiological test requirements listed in the...

Neutron Test Results of Preliminary Measurements and Calculations Using a Handheld Instrument

March 18, 2013

Author(s)

Leticia S. Pibida, Craig Heimbach, Bruce R. Norman, Alan Keith Thompson, Maynard S. Dewey

Initial neutron measurements and calculations were performed to investigate the response of handheld radionuclide identifiers (RIDs) to neutron sources with...

Modeling and Measuring the Effects of Portable Gasoline Powered Generator Exhaust on Indoor Carbon Monoxide Level

March 18, 2013

Author(s)

Steven J. Emmerich, Andrew K. Persily, Wang Liangzhu

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is concerned about the hazard of acute residential carbon monoxide (CO) exposures from portable gasoline...

Thermal Performance of Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Facepiece Lenses Exposed to Radiant Heat Flux

March 5, 2013

Author(s)

Anthony D. Putorti Jr., Amy Mensch, Nelson P. Bryner, George C. Braga

Fire fighters are exposed to highly variable thermal environments including elevated temperatures, convective heat flux, and radiant heat flux, which can put a...

Simple Estimates of Combined StairWell / Elevator Egress in Buildings

March 5, 2013

Author(s)

Paul A. Reneke, Richard D. Peacock, Bryan L. Hoskins

This report is part of this effort to develop requirements for the use of elevators in tall building evacuations. It describes a simple tool to estimate...

Delivering Building Intelligence to First Responders

February 27, 2013

Author(s)

David G. Holmberg, Michelle A. Raymond, Jason D. Averill

Presently, there is no integrated solution for delivering building systems data into the hands of emergency responders. A standard building data delivery...

Robustness of Steel Gravity Frame Systems with Single-Plate Shear Connections

February 27, 2013

Author(s)

Joseph A. Main, Fahim Sadek

This report presents a computational assessment of the performance of steel gravity framing systems with single-plate shear (shear tab) connections and...

Repeatability and reproducibility of compression strength measurements conducted according to ASTM E9

February 14, 2013

Author(s)

William E. Luecke, Stephen Graham, Matthew Adler, Li Ma

Ten commercial laboratories participated in an interlaboratory study to establish the repeatability and reproducibility of compression strength tests conducted...

Towards Smart Fire Panels

February 14, 2013

Author(s)

Paul A. Reneke

General Guidance on Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings

February 12, 2013

Author(s)

Erica D. Kuligowski

When a building emergency occurs, it is not always sufficient to simply initiate alarm bells. Individuals may not know what the alarm bell means and as a result...

Measurement Science Needs for the Expanded Use of Green Concrete: Workshop Summary Report

February 6, 2013

Author(s)

Kenneth A. Snyder, Dale P. Bentz, Jeffrey W. Bullard, Chiara F. Ferraris, Nicos Martys, Paul E. Stutzman

In July 2012, NIST conducted the Green Concrete Workshop to bring together stakeholders from the concrete construction industry and identify critical needs for...

Smoke Alarm Performance in Kitchen Fires and Nuisance Alarm Scenarios

February 6, 2013

Author(s)

Thomas G. Cleary, Artur A. Chernovsky

Tests were conducted to assess the performance of various residential smoke alarms to kitchen fires and nuisance alarm cooking scenarios. A test structure...

Survey Report for Ambulance Patient Compartment Design

January 22, 2013

Author(s)

Allison Barnard Feeney, Deogratias Kibira, Yung-Tsun T. Lee, Jennifer L. Marshall

NIST conducted a survey (Office of Management and Budget, Control No. 1090-0007) of the emergency medical services (EMS) professionals in December 2011. The...

Framework for Addressing the National Wildland Urban Interface Fire Problem--Determining Fire and Ember Exposure Zones Using a WUI Hazard Scale (NISTTN 1748)

January 14, 2013

Author(s)

Alexander Maranghides, William Mell

WUI fires offer a unique challenge to the fire fighting and fire protection engineering communities. The scale of the events can be vast, spanning in many cases...

Exposing Wood Decking Assemblies to Continuous Wind-Driven Firebrand Showers

December 12, 2012

Author(s)

Samuel L. Manzello, Sayaka S. Suzuki

A series of experiments were conducted to determine vulnerabilities of wood decks to continuous, wind-driven firebrand showers. Sections of wood decks (1.2 m by...

Standard Operating Procedures for Smolder Ignition Testing of Upholstery Fabrics

December 11, 2012

Author(s)

Rick D. Davis, Mauro Zammarano, Szabolcs Matko, Roland H. Kraemer

This manuscript describes a methodology to measure the influence of an upholstery cover fabric to promote smoldering mass loss of a small-scale mock-up. The...

Effect of Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) on Charpy Test Results from Miniaturized Steel Specimens

December 11, 2012

Author(s)

Enrico Lucon

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is a manufacturing process whereby a desired shape is obtained through electrical discharges between an electrode and a...

Workshop Report for Ambulance Patient Compartment Design

November 26, 2012

Author(s)

Allison Barnard Feeney, Deogratias Kibira, Yung-Tsun T. Lee, Jennifer L. Marshall

Recently, the U.S Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorates Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division and First Responder Resources...

Design and Usage Guide for Version 0.92 of the Quality Information Framework Data Model and XML (Extensible Markup Language) Schemas

November 23, 2012

Author(s)

Fiona Zhao, Thomas Kramer, Robert Brown, Scott Hoffman, Matt Hoffman, William G. Rippey, Robert Stone

This document describes the design approach used for implementing version 0.92 of the Quality Information Framework (QIF) data model, including implementation...

FDD CX: A Fault Detection and Diagnostic Commissioning Tool for Residential Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps

November 21, 2012

Author(s)

William V. Payne, Jae H. Heo, Piotr A. Domanski

FDD CX is a commissioning tool for unitary, air-source, single-speed, vapor compression air conditioner (AC) or heat pump (HP) systems. This software tool can...

High-Temperature Guarded-Hot-Plate and Pipe Measurements: 2nd Operators Workshop (March 19-20, 2012) Co-sponsored by ASTM Committee C16 on Thermal Insulation

November 21, 2012

Author(s)

Robert R. Zarr, Thomas Whitaker, Frank Tyler

A Study of Thermal Behavior of a Composite Floor System in Standard Fire Resistance Tests

October 26, 2012

Author(s)

Dilip K. Banerjee, John L. Gross

This report summarizes the characterization of the furnace thermal environment and thermal behavior of members during the fire tests. Additionally, numerical...

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