Structural fire resistance

News and Updates

New Timeline of Deadliest California Wildfire Could Guide Lifesaving Research and Action

February 8, 2021

On a brisk November morning in 2018, a fire sparked in a remote stretch of canyon in Butte County, California, a region nestled against the western slopes of

A fire test of an office building floor replica occurring in a fireproof compartment.

How Fire Causes Office-Building Floors to Collapse

March 24, 2020

Engineers and technicians at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) spent months meticulously recreating the long concrete floors supported

The remains of what was once a home improvement store in Joplin, Mo., showing the destructive power of the tornado that struck the area in May 2011.

NIST Awards $6.6 Million for Research to Help Structures Better Withstand Earthquakes, Wind and Fire

August 8, 2019

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is awarding more than $6.6 million to fund research

Events

2021 Disaster Resilience Symposium

Tue, Jul 20 2021, 11:00am - Wed, Jul 21 2021, 3:30pm EDT

The Engineering Laboratory at NIST, Gaithersburg, will be hosting its fourth annual symposium as a virtual only event on

Publications

Improving the State-of-the-Art in Flow Measurements for Large-Scale Oxygen Consumption Calorimetry

May 6, 2021

Author(s)

Rodney Bryant, Matthew Bundy

The accuracy of the exhaust flow measurement contributes significantly to the uncertainty of calorimetry measurements for large fire testing. Less than ideal

Distributed fiber optic measurements of strain and temperature in long-span composite floor beams with simple shear connections subject to compartment fires

May 1, 2021

Author(s)

Yanping Zhu, Matthew Klegseth, Yi Bao, Matthew Hoehler, Lisa Y. Choe, Genda Chen

This study explores an instrumentation strategy using distributed fiber optic sensors to measure strain and temperature through the concrete volume in large

Ignitibility of Structural Wood Products Exposed to Embers During Wildland Fires: A Review of Literature

April 27, 2021

Author(s)

Shonali Nazare, Isaac T. Leventon, Rick Davis

Ignitability of structural components due to ember accumulation is a common cause of structural fires in wildland urban interface (WUI) communities. To fire

CRITICAL TEMPERATURE OF AXIALLY LOADED STEEL MEMBERS WITH WIDE-FLANGE SHAPES EXPOSED TO FIRE

January 1, 2021

Author(s)

Ana Sauca, Rachel Chicchi, Chao Zhang, Lisa Y. Choe

This paper presents closed-formed equations developed to evaluate critical temperatures of structural steel compression and tension members exposed to fire. The