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This report documents the development of finite-element models (FEM) of the National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL) and its modular support structure. The models enable a future user of the NFRL to add a potential test structure and perform thermal and
This paper examines the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as platforms to capture imagery at the neighborhood and individual building level for use in post-disaster field studies. Applications of UAVs in recent disasters as described in the literature
This paper presents a procedure for estimating parametric probabilistic models of hurricane wind speeds from existing information on estimated wind speeds with various mean recurrence intervals (MRIs). Such models may be needed, for example, for the
William M. Pitts, Jiann C. Yang, Marco G. Fernandez, Kuldeep R. Prasad
The dispersion and loss of helium inside a single-car residential garage attached to a single-family house was experimentally characterized by recording time-resolved helium concentrations at multiple locations in the garage and at a single location in the
Therese P. McAllister, William E. Luecke, Mark A. Iadicola, Matthew F. Bundy
For the last forty years, NIST has led the world in fire metrology through research conducted at the Large Fire Laboratory, which is being expanded to enable experiments on real-scale structures under combined structural and fire loads. The combined
Samuel L. Manzello, Sayaka S. Suzuki, Tokiyoshi Yamada
Dr. Samuel L. Manzello of NISTs Engineering Laboratory (EL) served as the USA side organizer of the 2nd Japan-USA workshop held in Tokyo, Japan from July 1 to July 4, 2012. This workshop was known as Operation Tomodachi - Fire Research. Tomodachi means
Full-scale fire experiments were conducted at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to investigate tire fire interactions with the passenger compartment of a motorcoach. A burner was designed to imitate the frictional heating of hub and
Mauro Zammarano, Szabolcs Matko, Roland H. Kraemer, Rick D. Davis, Jeffrey W. Gilman, Shivani N. Mehta
The objective of this study was to evaluate whether polyurethane foam (PUF) could be produced as a standard reference material for ultimate use in a standard test intended to ensure the smoldering performance of commercially available upholstered furniture
This study examines the size distribution and other characteristics of firebrand exposure during the 2007 Angora Fire, a severe Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fire in California. Of the 401 houses that received direct interface fire exposure 61% were
Erica D. Kuligowski, Bryan Hoskins, Richard D. Peacock, Emily A. Wiess
The time that it takes a population to reach safety when descending a stairwell during building evacuations is typically described by measureable engineering variables. These engineering variables include stairwell geometry, speed, density, and pre
Steve M. Gwynne, Erica D. Kuligowski, Michael Spearpoint
In this paper, the use of default values in egress models is explored and specific values are proposed to combat issues of model misuse. The authors suggest that defaults should represent the most credibly conservative estimates available for core egress
This paper presents a portion of the authors PhD dissertation involving a qualitative study of occupant behavior in response to the 2001 World Trade Center (WTC) disaster. Through analyses of transcripts from 245 face-to-face interviews with survivors
In 2006, researchers from 22 organizations in ten countries began a joint effort to enable the cost-effective commissioning of existing and future buildings to improve the buildings operating performance. The commissioning techniques developed through
Christian Neumann , Henk Pietsman, Harunori Yoshida , Hideki Yuzawa, Takeshi Watanabe, Katsuhiro Kamitani, Hiroshige Kikuchi , Dirk Jacob, Oliver Baumann, Daniel Choiniere, Natascha S. Milesi-Ferretti
This report summarizes part of the work of IEA-ECBCS Annex 47 Cost-Effective Commissioning of Existing and Low Energy Buildings. It is based on the research findings from the participating countries. The publication is an official Annex report. Report 1,
Hannah Friedman, Marti Frank, David Claridge, Kristin Heinemeier, Kim Crossman, Eliot Crowe, Cory Toole, Natascha S. Milesi-Ferretti, Daniel Choniere
Commissioning of new and existing buildings has been shown to reduce energy usage and can also produce non-energy related benefits such as improved occupant comfort. When compared with other initiatives such as installation of high efficiency equipment or
This report summarizes a workshop entitled "Quantifying the Contribution of Flaming Residential Upholstered Furniture to Fire Losses in the United States" that was held at the National Institute of Standards of Technology on March 22-23, 2012. The workshop
Two full-scale fire experiments were conducted to determine the mode of penetration of a tire fire into the passenger compartment of a motorcoach. A special burner was designed to imitate the frictional heating of hub and wheel metal caused by failed axle
An in-depth analysis of U.S. residential fire statistics shows that although the total number of fires and deaths due to mattress fires has dropped as a result of several regulatory approaches, the mattress/bedding fires continue to account for one of the
Residential fire sprinklers have long proven themselves as life safety technologies to the fire service community. Only until recently have they shown to be cost-effective for homeowners, as installation costs have fallen and performance increased. While
Therese P. McAllister, Fahim Sadek, John L. Gross, Jason D. Averill, Richard G. Gann
This paper summarizes the primary structural systems which comprised World Trade Center 1, World Trade Center 2, and World Trade Center 7. The buildings were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This paper describes the four major
In this study, environmentally stressed OS fabrics containing melamine fiber blends were evaluated for thermal and mechanical properties that are critical to the protective performance of firefighter turnout gear. Environmental stress factors that affect
Tinh Nguyen, Bastien T. Pellegrin, Coralie Bernard, Savelas A. Rabb, Paul E. Stutzman, Justin M. Gorham, Xiaohong Gu, Lee L. Yu, Joannie W. Chin
Nanofillers are increasingly used for enhancing multiple properties of polymeric materials in many applications. However, polymers are susceptible to photodegradation by solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation Therefore, nanofillers in a polymer nanocomposite
Therese P. McAllister, Fahim Sadek, John L. Gross, Steven W. Kirkpatrick, Robert S. MacNeill, R. Bocchieri, Mehdi S. Zarghamee, Omer O. Erbay, Andrew T. Sarawit
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) conducted an extensive investigation of the collapse of World Trade Center towers (WTC 1 and WTC 2) and the WTC 7 building. This paper describes the reconstruction of impact damage to each of the
Richard D. Peacock, Thomas G. Cleary, Paul A. Reneke, Daniel Murphy
A review is presented of the state of the art of smoke production measurement, prediction of smoke impact as part of computer-based fire modeling, and measurement and prediction of the impact of smoke through deposition of soot on and corrosion of