An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Previously published laboratory studies have indicated that ultrasonic extraction/anodic stripping voltammetry (UE/ASV) may be suitable for quantitative field analysis of dust wipe samples. Nevertheless, on-site lead extraction and analysis of dust wipes
Linking field and laboratory exposure results and predicting the service life of a polymeric materials exposed in its intended service environment have been major research goals of the polymeric materials community for over a century. Three methodologies
Jeffrey W. Gilman, Rick D. Davis, S Bellayer, P H. Maupin, Raghavan Dharmara, Joseph Langat, S Bourbigot, X Flambard, D M. Fox, Paul C. Trulove, Hugh C. De Long
The development of high throughput methods for studying polymer layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSN) is motivated by the fact that these materials represent a multiple parameter problem. We have developed a HT platform for the study of thermoplastic
Computational tools have been developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for modeling fire spread and smoke transport. These models include FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) for modeling fire spread and smoke transport and Smokeview
This paper is the executive summary of NIST Technical Note 1453 (May 2003). The original abstract follows.This report presents the methodology for and results from a series of room-scale fire tests to produce data on the yields of toxic products in both
Walter W. Jones, Richard D. Peacock, Glenn P. Forney, Paul A. Reneke
CFAST is a zone model capable of predicting the environment in a multi-compartment structure subjected to a fire. It calculates the time evolving distribution of smoke and fire gases and the temperature throughout a building during a user-specified fire
Initial tests have been performed to assess detection limits and smoke obscuration monitoring for a video scene under different lighting and smoke concentration conditions. An illuminated exit sign located in the fire emulator/detector evaluator duct was
In recent years, evacuation models have been increasingly applied in an attempt to understand the outcome of emergency egress scenarios. This has been due to the introduction of performance-based codes and the availability of cost-effective, high
This article describes efforts within NIST's Building and Fire Research Laboratory to develop baseline measures for the National Construction Goals. The National Construction Goals were established in collaboration with representatives of the construction
William E. Mell, Samuel Manzello, Alexander Maranghides, Ronald G. Rehm
Wildfires that spread into wildland-urban interface (WUI) communities present a significant challenge on a number of fronts. In the United States the WUI accounts for a significant portion of wildfire suppression and risk mitigation costs. Research on fire
This publication is the Proceedings of the 38th Joint Meeting of the U.S.-Japan Panel on Wind and Seismic Effects. The meeting was held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland during 15-17 May 2006. The Proceedings
M Iancovici, Michael A. Riley, Fahim H. Sadek, Emil Simiu
Database-assisted design (DAD) was originally developed for low-rise buildings. In this paper we show that it applies to flexible high-rise buildings as well, and that it has a number of significant advantages over the high frequency force balance (HFFB)
A rigorous procedure that calculates wind-induced effects on tall buildings is presented. The method, an extension of Database-Assisted Design (DAD), uses sets of time histories of pressures recorded simultaneously in the wind tunnel at a large number of
Wind load factors incorporated in the ASCE 7 Standard are based on rough approximations of wind effects and the uncertainties inherent in them. These factors are routinely applied to tall building design, even though the original calculations on which they
Estimates of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers response to wind by two North American wind engineering laboratories differed from each other by almost 40 %. A recent investigation by the National Institute of Standards and Technology determined that
The problem of generating a generalized solution is further exasperated by the varying nature of reporting requirements placed by clients on the construction management companies, which are normally pushed to the metrology subcontractors. Further there is
The NIST Technical Investigation of the 2011 Joplin, MO tornado identified that no widely accepted standards exist for emergency communications in tornado events and more specifically, policies involving the use of outdoor siren systems to alert the public
Kathryn M. Butler, Erik L. Johnsson, Marco G. Fernandez, Mariusz Zarzecki, Glenn P. Forney, Eric Auth
In wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires, combustible materials pose a potential threat to contiguous or nearby structures. Flame spread and firebrand spotting have been studied in a series of field experiments involving fences and mulch beds under a
Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires have devastated communities on multiple continents. Large outdoor fires in Japan mainly occur due to post-earthquake fires, which may result in severe urban fire spread. Once structures are ignited in these fires
The fire blocking performance of barrier fabrics laminated to upholstery materials was investigated. The results are two-fold. The first involves information gathered directly from cone calorimetry tests conducted on foam/fabric composites to better
Firebrands are a significant source leading to structures ignited and lost in large outdoor fires, such as WildlandUrban Interface (WUI) fires, a large international problem, and urban fires, common in Japan. Sadly, hardly any information is available