Structural engineering

News and Updates

A flatbed truck with equipment on the back sits in a puddled parking lot near the remains of a demolished building foundation, with two figures in safety gear nearby and palm trees in the background.

Sept. 29, 2022, Update: Champlain Towers South Investigation Completes Site Testing, Announces Next Advisory Committee Meeting

September 29, 2022

This summer, members of the National Construction Safety Team (NCST) completed testing at the former site of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside

Large chunks of concrete bristling with rebar and colored flags sit in a warehouse.

June 15, 2022, Update on the NIST Champlain Towers South Investigation

June 15, 2022

The NIST team investigating the partial collapse of the condo building is preparing to begin invasive testing and preparation of physical evidence collected

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

Building-Level Seismic Performance Assessment

Ongoing

This project focuses on two research tasks promoting enhanced seismic building performance. Research Task 1 investigates the use of low-damage rocking systems

Robust Structural Systems for Multi-Hazard Mitigation

Ongoing

In the context of codes and standards for structural design, the term robustness has been used to indicate the ability of a structural system to resist damage

NIST Proficiency Testing

Ongoing

Proficiency Test (PT) results are available at no cost to customers who have tested SRMs 2092, 2096, and 2098. A PT result serves as a means to verify the

Pipeline Safety

Ongoing

Our goal is to provide standard test methods and critical data to the pipeline industry to improve safety and reliability. Of particular interest is the testing

Publications

Improving Windstorm and Tornado Resilience: Recommendations for One- and Two-Family Residential Structures

February 21, 2023

Author(s)

Brian O'Connor, Karah Osburn, Jennifer Mitchell, Heidi Szabo, Marc Levitan

The purpose of this fact sheet is to provide a brief overview of building envelope considerations and load path improvements to reduce damages to wood framed

Design Guide for New Tornado Load Requirements in ASCE 7-22

January 30, 2023

Author(s)

Erik Perfetto, James Taylor, Karah Osburn, Brian O'Connor, Marc Levitan, Jennifer Mitchell

This instructional guidance is for design professionals and building officials to help them determine when a building or other structure is required to be

Evaluation of DAD_ETABS Procedure and Software for the Design of High-Rise Steel Buildings for Wind

October 3, 2022

Author(s)

Sophie Sisson, Mehedy Mashnad, DongHun Yeo

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed advanced Database-Assisted Design (DAD) procedures for the design of structural members

Regional Risk Assessment of Bridge Inventories In California Using Machine Learning Techniques

October 1, 2022

Author(s)

Jazalyn Dukes, Sujith Mangalathu

Recently significant attention has been paid to the regional risk assessment of infrastructure systems as proper risk assessment can lead to informed decision