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Buildings & Construction

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Displaying 551 - 575 of 3873

HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN FIRE - MODEL DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION

September 28, 2015
Author(s)
Steve Gwynne, Erica D. Kuligowski, Michael Kinsey
The purpose of this article is to introduce a conceptual model of human behaviour in fire. This model is constructed based upon a theoretical framework of individual decision-making and response to emergencies, and from this foundation, is populated with

Infiltration and Ventilation in a Very Tight Home

September 23, 2015
Author(s)
Lisa C. Ng, Andrew K. Persily, Steven J. Emmerich
The Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) was constructed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to support the development and adoption of cost-effective net zero energy designs and technologies. Key design objectives

Assessing the Thermal Protective Performance of Fire Blocking Barrier Fabrics for Residential Upholstered Furniture: Report to Consumer Product Safety Commission for Interagency Agreement CPSC-I-13-0022

September 17, 2015
Author(s)
Shonali Nazare, John R. Shields, Szabolcs Matko, Rick D. Davis
Fire behavior of five barrier fabrics has been evaluated both, as an individual component and as a part of composite samples, using different test methods. The quantitative component test methods selected to characterize fire behavior of barrier fabrics

CONTAM User Guide and Program Documentation Version 3.2

September 4, 2015
Author(s)
William S. Dols, Brian J. Polidoro
This manual describes the computer program CONTAM version 3.2 developed by NIST. CONTAM is a multizone indoor air quality and ventilation analysis program designed to help you determine: airflow rates and pressures – infiltration, exfiltration, and room-to

Validation of Fire Models Applied to Nuclear Power Plant Safety

September 1, 2015
Author(s)
Kevin B. McGrattan, Richard D. Peacock, Kristopher J. Overholt
The paper highlights key components of a fire model validation study conducted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Electric Power Research Institute. These include the selection of fire phenomena of interest to nuclear power plant safety, the

Re-Certification of SRM 2492: Bingham Paste Mixture for Rheological Measurements

August 25, 2015
Author(s)
Chiara F. Ferraris, Alex Olivas, William F. Guthrie, Blaza Toman
Rheological measurements are often performed using a rotational rheometer. In this type of rheometer, the tested fluid is sheared between two surfaces, one of which is rotating [1]. Usually, an angular velocity is imposed on the fluid (through the rotating

Hitting the bounds of chemistry: Limits and tradeoffs for low-GWP refrigerants.

August 19, 2015
Author(s)
Mark O. McLinden, J. Steven Brown, Andrei F. Kazakov, Piotr A. Domanski
We explore the possibilities for low-GWP refrigerants through two approaches. First, we explore the performance of hypothetical refrigerants to define the limits of what is allowed by thermodynamics. In the second approach, we apply property estimation

EFFECT OF INSTALLATION FAULTS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A SPLIT AIR CONDITIONER

August 18, 2015
Author(s)
Piotr A. Domanski, Hugh Henderson, William V. Payne
The study analyzed the effect of common installation faults on the cooling performance of a residential, split air conditioner installed in a single-family, slab-on-grade house. We considered five climatic regions in the United States from hot/humid to

Ignition of Wood Fencing Assemblies Exposed to Continuous-Wind Driven Firebrand Showers

July 30, 2015
Author(s)
Sayaka Suzuki, Erik L. Johnsson, Alexander Maranghides, Samuel Manzello
A series of experiments were conducted to examine ignition of wood fencing assemblies subjected to continuous, wind-driven firebrand showers. Specifically, Western Red Cedar and Redwood fencing assemblies were exposed to continuous, wind-driven firebrand

High Performance IAQ Specification for Net Zero Energy Homes

July 19, 2015
Author(s)
Anthony Bernheim, Alred Hodgson, Andrew K. Persily
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) constructed a Net Zero Energy Residential Test Facility (NZERTF) to support the development and adoption of cost-effective NZE designs and technologies. Key design objectives include providing

Indoor Environmental Resilience: White Paper

July 16, 2015
Author(s)
Andrew K. Persily, Steven J. Emmerich
NIST is developing a framework to define programs and strategies to increase community-based resilience in the face of a broad range of natural disasters and other extreme events. Many of these events will affect indoor environmental quality either through

Behavior of Axially Loaded Steel Short Columns Subjected to A Localized Fire

June 23, 2015
Author(s)
Chao Zhang, Lisa Y. Choe, Mina S. Seif
Current structural re design approaches are based on uniform heating conditions. Steel short columns in real buildings may be exposed to non-uniform heating conditions in accident res. This paper investigates numerically the behavior of steel short columns

Modeling Particle Resuspension for Estimating Exposure to Bacillus Spores

June 11, 2015
Author(s)
William S. Dols, Andrew K. Persily
A key challenge in assessing the risks of low level contaminations following biological threat agent releases, and subsequent decontamination, is developing an understanding of and addressing the potential for airborne resuspension of agents that have

Research Roadmap for Smart Fire Fighting

June 11, 2015
Author(s)
Anthony P. Hamins, casey grant, Nelson P. Bryner, Albert W. Jones, Galen H. Koepke
In 2013, fire departments in the United States responded to more than 480,000 structure fires. These fires resulted in approximately 2850 civilian fatalities, 14,000 injuries, and estimated property losses of $10 billion dollars. More than 30,000 fire

Simulation Methodology for Coupled Structural Fire Analysis

May 28, 2015
Author(s)
Chao Zhang, Julio C. Goncalves Da Silva, Craig G. Weinschenk, Daisuke Kamikawa, Yuji Hasemi
Advanced simulation methods are needed to precisely predict the complex behavior of structures exposed to natural fire conditions. Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, developed by NIST for fire related simulations
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