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Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
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7

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

PANEL MEMBERS

Rose A. Ryntz, Visteon Automotive Systems, Chair

Janet S. Baum, Health, Education & Research Associates, Inc., Vice Chair

Robert A. Altenkirch, Mississippi State University

Robert J. Asaro, University of California at San Diego

Craig L. Beyler, Hughes Associates, Inc.

Donald B. Bivens, DuPont Fluorochemicals

Ronny J. Coleman, Consultant, Elk Grove, California

James M. Delahay, Lane Bishop York Delahay Inc.

Filip C. Filippou, University of California at Berkeley

James H. Garrett, Carnegie Mellon University

Leon R. Glicksman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Eric R. Hansen, Ash Grove Cement Company

Susan D. Landry, Albemarle Corporation

Richard E. Schuler, Cornell University

Jim W. Sealy, Architect, Building Code Consultant, Dallas, Texas

Miroslaw J. Skibniewski, Purdue University

James A. White, Western Fire Center, Inc.

Michael Winter, United Technologies Research Center

Elaine M. Yorkgitis, Automotive Division/3M

Submitted for the panel by its Chair, Rose A. Ryntz, and its Vice Chair, Janet S. Baum, this assessment of the fiscal year 2000 activities of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory is based on site visits by individual panel members, a formal meeting of the panel on March 9-10, 2000, in Gaithersburg, Md., and the annual report of the laboratory. 1

1  

U.S. Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building and Fire Research Laboratory Activities, Accomplishments, and Recognitions, NIST SP 838-16, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Md., February 2000.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

LABORATORY-LEVEL REVIEW

Laboratory Mission

According to laboratory documentation, the mission of the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) is to partner with its customers to provide the measurement technologies, performance prediction methods, and technical advances needed to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. industry, public safety, and environmental safety, and to assure the life-cycle quality and economy of constructed facilities.

This mission statement is appropriate and well aligned with the overall NIST mission. BFRL's role is unique, in that the focus on standards and metrics work accomplished by this laboratory could not occur at any academic or industrial institution. The BFRL possesses a unique collection of expertise, and its value to the nation is based not only on the technical excellence of individual projects but also on the benefits that accrue from having so many groups serving building-related industries in one location. These industries are conservative and fragmented and perform little research. The work in BFRL is therefore needed to push the boundaries of existing technologies and develop new and innovative measurement techniques to support new products and directions. In addition, the fragmentation into many sectors of the building industries and the lack of communication even between parties with common interests limit the spread of technologies and the ability of U.S. companies to have an effective voice on the international stage. BFRL serves as a central source of information about the relevant technologies, as a coordinator and convener of workshops and standards committees and a U.S. representative to those workshops and committees, and as a neutral evaluator of new standards and technologies. The result of laboratory efforts is increased U.S. competitiveness, as companies gain access to new technologies and world markets. The public also benefits from the introduction of better products and the industry's use of more accurate standards that—owing to the unbiased nature of NIST's measurement techniques and its participation in standards committees—are formulated fairly and with safety in mind.

Technical Merit and Appropriateness of Work

The panel continues to be impressed by the technical quality of the work and of the staff in BFRL. Many examples of world-class research and innovative techniques are occurring in the laboratory. Two examples are the development of the ultraviolet (UV) integrating sphere, which can provide controlled exposure of materials to a combination of environmental stresses in order to measure the service life of the materials, and the fire dynamics simulator, which will assist building designers by modeling sprinkler effects and smoke transport. Many more excellent projects are described in the divisional assessments that follow.

The BFRL contains five divisions: Structures, Building Materials, Building Environment, Fire Safety Engineering, and Fire Science. Research also occurs in the Office of Applied Economics and the Standards and Codes Services Unit of the laboratory office. In addition to using the mission statement to define activities for these groups, the laboratory has identified 10 major objectives that articulate the themes and intended impacts of the cross-divisional efforts at BFRL. This approach is approximately 3 years old, and the laboratory continues to refine the specific objectives. As of January 2000, the 10 major objectives of the BFRL were as follows:

  1. Construction Integration and Automation Technologies,

  2. Cybernetic Building Systems,

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
  1. Fire Safe Materials,

  2. Industrial Fire Simulation System,

  3. Partnership for High-Performance Concrete Technologies,

  4. Performance Standards System for Housing,

  5. Service Life Prediction of Materials,

  6. Metrology for Sustainable Buildings,

  7. Earthquake, Fire, and Wind Engineering, and

  8. Advanced Fire Measurements and Fire-Fighting Technologies.

The first five objectives include specific products that the BFRL is actively disseminating or preparing to disseminate to relevant industries. Because the major objectives often cut across divisional boundaries, brief comments about each one are offered in this overview section. More detailed comments about the individual projects that support these laboratory-wide thrusts are provided in the divisional assessments.

The main accomplishment of the Construction Integration and Automation Technologies (CONSiAT) objective this year was the formation of the FIATECH (Fully Integrated and Automated Technologies) Consortium, dedicated to technologies in support of fully integrated and automated project processes for construction. This consortium includes owners and contractors; adding equipment makers would be a good next step. NIST's work on organizing this group is an important step toward facilitating adoption of new technologies in the construction integration and automation area. Rapid proof of concept and implementation are necessary to maintain the competitiveness of U.S. companies, especially vis à vis Japan.

In the work on Cybernetic Building Systems (CBS), the technologies embodied in the data communication protocol for Building Automation and Control Network (BACnet) have gained acceptance throughout industry, and staff helped form a BACnet Manufacturers Association that will create and operate a certification program for BACnet products. NIST can now focus on expanding the reach of BACnet into lighting controls and systems with fire-fighting applications. Work on the Virtual Cybernetic Building Testbed (VCBT) also has a lot of potential; the challenge in this area is how to test and validate the integration of various components.

The Fire Safe Materials (FSM) objective is very strong technically. Work at NIST has brought a scientific approach into a field previously dependent on trial and error approaches. The fundamental research on understanding what characteristics contribute to a material's flammability is valuable to many companies. Since the work is precompetitive, funding from this industry is unlikely, but BFRL results will probably lead to better products and faster product development.

Many years of work on the Industrial Fire Simulation System (IFS) has resulted this year in the release of the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS), a great success that would not have been possible without the long-term commitment and focus on fundamental models that is available only at NIST. The FDS will certainly be effectively employed by researchers and engineers from industry to further the community 's understanding of fire dynamics and to apply this understanding to solving fire problems in building design.

The Partnership for High-Performance Concrete Technologies (PHPCT) is bringing together a fragmented collection of communities, including concrete producers, suppliers, users, and highway engineers. The NIST results are efficiently disseminated via the Internet, and data and techniques from BFRL will advance the U.S. agenda by increasing the safety and quality of concrete products. The panel particularly applauds the effort to work cooperatively with the American Concrete Institute to ensure that this product has maximum impact on the user community.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

The projects working on Performance Standards System for Housing (PSSH) span several divisions. The focus is on developing new measures and diagnostic tools that can be used to implement new standards and demonstrate the effectiveness of new technologies. This work is coordinated by a manager within the Standards and Codes Services Unit in the laboratory office, and the panel was not clear how projects are selected and short-term goals are set in support of this objective.

The projects on Service Life Prediction of Materials (SLPM) have increased their coordination in the past year and are now unified around a single theme so they can take advantage of synergies between various activities. The focus on techniques to measure durability and on a scientifically rigorous approach that utilizes well-controlled environmental conditions will be of great benefit to industry.

The Metrology for Sustainable Buildings (MSB) objective utilizes BFRL expertise in thermal machinery, heat transfer, and indoor air quality to develop measurement methods, tests, data, and simulations to support sustainability in the design, construction, operation, and demolition of buildings and their systems. This work is appropriately focused on a long-term concern of the United States and other countries. The programs in the objective are evolving as needs change; for example, the expertise developed during NIST's important work on alternatives to ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons is now being applied to research on refrigerants and systems with low potential for global warming.

The focus of the work in Earthquake, Fire, and Wind Engineering (EFWE) is on providing the technical basis for performance-based design and rehabilitation standards and for nondestructive evalution methods used in condition assessment and quality control. This work also involves conducting postdisaster and failure investigations, but the level of effort on this sort of work fluctuates, as these events are intermittent and unpredictable. Other activities include participation in standards committees and supervision of research at other institutions (congressional pass-throughs), which are not necessarily the best use of NIST staff time. The group working in wind engineering may be dropping below critical mass, and BFRL should consider realigning some of the structural efforts in support of the PSSH objective.

The Advanced Fire Measurements and Fire Fighting Technologies (AFM/FFT) objective contains a variety of meaningful individual projects, although the panel did not see an overall programmatic goal or strategy that unified this array of projects. Examples of work under way include the development of methods to evaluate the performance and limitations of firefighter protective clothing, the development of sensors that warn firefighters when the environment is too hot for them, and the investigation of fire-suppressing alternatives to Halon.

Although most of these objectives include projects from multiple divisions, the panel observed that there do not appear to be mechanisms to support and encourage collaboration across administrative lines. Specifically, no effective way of allocating resources and managing staff from multiple groups, divisions, or laboratories was seen; the authority of project managers is not broad enough to unify activities that cross borders. The panel does not mean to imply that cooperative work is not occurring, but rather that the management structure is hindering, not helping, coordination of these efforts.

Overall, the alignment between individual projects and laboratory-wide objectives appears to have increased. However, the panel is somewhat concerned about the amount of restructuring that has occurred within the BFRL over the past 3 years, since staff need an environment with stable goals and resources to be productive and build long-term relationships with their customers. Laboratory management is making an effort to develop evaluation criteria for the purpose of rating projects and allocating internal funding, and the panel supports this goal. Criteria used to assess projects throughout the laboratory in the budget decisions of June 1999 were responsiveness to construction industry needs, magnitude of economic impact, opportunities for recognition of BFRL by outside parties, opportunities for recognition of BFRL within NIST, and potential for leveraging BFRL's resources. The evaluation

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

of major objectives that occurred in January of 2000 was based on similar criteria, except that opportunities for recognition were replaced by technical merit of work. Although these criteria are appropriate, it appears that the project assessment process is mainly top-down, in that activities are rated and priorities set at the top levels of management and the results are then announced to the staff.

This lack of communication between laboratory management and technical staff about the logic and criteria behind decisions about the status and funding of individual projects and about determining major thrusts of the BFRL troubles the panel. Because they understand the technical issues and are well-connected to researchers in industry, the laboratory 's technical personnel in the various divisions can be a resource for project selection. Their appreciation for how BFRL results might impact the industry and how new techniques might most effectively be implemented could help determine which proposed projects and objectives have the best chance of success. In addition, clearer communication by laboratory management about how decisions are made and how success is defined would have a positive impact on staff morale and productivity. BFRL management appears to be aware of the communication problems and has instituted a series of informal conversations between the laboratory director and small groups of bench scientists and engineers to begin to build clearer channels between them.

Impact of Programs

The programs of the BFRL have an impact on a number of industries, from the fire protection community to construction and design companies. Also, improving the quality of items that affect virtually everyone in the United States—structures and building control systems and furniture—improves public safety and quality of life. The validation and standardization of nondestructive testing methodologies for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites could speed the adoption of new materials in the retrofit and repair of constructed facilities. Tools developed to accurately and efficiently measure the service life of materials could shorten product development cycles and improve the quality of the final products. Techniques to determine the energy efficiency of heating and cooling systems using alternative refrigerants will provide data needed by regulators trying to make good decisions on issues related to global warming. Fire simulation tools could improve building design and firefighter training. Work on silicon-based nanoscale additives that reduce polymer flammability could lead to more fire-resistant materials.

An important issue facing all BFRL projects is how laboratory results can most effectively be communicated to the relevant industries and what NIST can do to ensure the implementation of new techniques. A variety of mechanisms are already employed, including publications; interactions with and organization of consortia; Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs); development of software packages; participation in standards committees and technical working groups; and NIST-hosted workshops and training programs. Informal relationships and collaborations also exist with individuals at companies and universities. The fragmented and conservative nature of building-related industries often makes dissemination difficult. In some areas, such as wind engineering, there are no industry organizations with which BFRL can cooperate. BFRL has had some notable successes when industry is involved early in the life of a project; one example is the consortium on service life of coatings. Another effective technique is the real-life implementation of a new technology to convincingly demonstrate the practical value of BFRL results (the full-scale test of the BACnet standard in an office building in San Francisco is an example of this approach). Delaying proof-of-concept activities can delay acceptance and implementation of new ideas.

The current success of the laboratory's products is in numerous cases built upon many years of investigation into basic scientific questions, the accumulated experience of staff members, and the broad

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

array of technical expertise available within BFRL. To ensure that the laboratory's work has impact in the future and that NIST is positioned to meet the emerging needs of industry, it is important for BFRL management to maintain a portfolio of programs that ranges from work focused on short-term outputs to long-term studies in areas of importance. The core competences of BFRL must be nurtured because the collection of a wide variety of skills in one unit is part of what makes the laboratory's products unique. For example, although several of the areas of expertise in BFRL are represented in Department of Energy (DOE) programs, the DOE personnel are scattered throughout the national laboratories and therefore cannot take advantage of the synergies and collaborations available in BFRL.

Laboratory staff continue to participate in standards committees, although work specifically on the writing of standards is decreasing. Instead, BFRL is focusing more on developing innovative and accurate measurement techniques that may be used to implement standards fairly and effectively. These techniques, along with simulations and testbeds developed at NIST, can also be used to support product development and building design. This adjustment of BFRL's approach is based on the staff's experience that in some areas, standards-writing activities often focus on existing, already-verified technologies. The new approach is expected to allow the laboratory to engage in more proactive work on measurement techniques that will allow designers and users to evaluate and improve new technologies in emerging areas.

Laboratory Resources

Funding sources for the Building and Fire Research Laboratory are shown in Table 7.1. As of January 2000, staffing for the Building and Fire Research Laboratory included 157 full-time permanent positions, of which 129 were for technical professionals. There were also 29 nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and part-time workers.

The percentage of the laboratory's budget provided by external sources rose from 29 percent in 1997 to 35 percent in 2000. As of March 2000, all of the needed outside funding had not been secured, and reductions in force (RIFs) were planned in at least three divisions. This situation has had an unfavorable effect on morale in the laboratory and has the potential to negatively affect the quality and appropriateness of the work done at NIST. The time and effort required to obtain external funding is reducing the productivity of senior staff members, and the pressure to cover anticipated budget short-falls is forcing BFRL to seek out projects that are not necessarily consistent with its mission. It appeared to the panel that the responsibilities associated with securing outside money to support the groups are falling on the individual group leaders. The uncertainty of the current environment should make laboratory management reconsider this approach. While individual groups can certainly be expected to maintain connections with other government agencies and to take advantage of funding opportunities that advance BFRL objectives, the long-term health and stability of the laboratory is the responsibility of laboratory-level management. Decisions must be made about what core competences NIST must have to meet industrial and governmental needs and about how best to maintain the necessary expertise, and internal funds must be allocated across the laboratory in support of these long-term requirements.

Another contributor to the shortfall in funding for the BFRL may be the number of areas in which there is a mismatch between the actual costs of projects and the allocated resources. In some cases, these are externally funded activities for which the support provided by outside agencies is insufficient, and NIST is forced to make up the difference with internal funds. In the Structures Division, the situation is exacerbated by the existence of several congressionally mandated activities—reconnaissance missions after major wind, fire, and earthquake catastrophes and supervision of funds earmarked for university research programs. These activities require NIST staff time and effort but are funded inadequately or

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

TABLE 7.1 Sources of Funding for the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (in millions of dollars), FY 1997 to FY 2000

Source of Funding

Fiscal Year

1997 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1998 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1999 (actual)

Fiscal Year

2000 (estimated)

NIST-STRS, excluding Competence

20.1

16.3

16.4

16.1

Competence

0.4

0.4

0.4

0.2

STRS, nonbase

0.0

2.5

1.8

1.4

ATP

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.9

MEPa

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.2

Measurement Services (SRM production)

0.2

0.0

0.0

0.0

OA/NFG/CRADA

8.6

8.9

9.2

10.3

Other Reimbursable

0.2

0.2

0.1

0.2

Total

30.1

28.9

28.7

29.3

Full-time permanent staff (total)b

177

161

157

157

NOTE: Funding for the NIST Measurement and Standards Laboratories comes from a variety of sources. The laboratories receive appropriations from Congress, known as Scientific and Technical Research and Services (STRS) funding. Competence funding also comes from NIST's congressional appropriations but is allocated by the NIST director's office in multiyear grants for projects that advance NIST's capabilities in new and emerging areas of measurement science. Advanced Technology Program (ATP) funding reflects support from NIST's ATP for work done at the NIST laboratories in collaboration with or in support of ATP projects. Funding to support production of Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) is tied to the use of such products and is classified as Measurement Services. NIST laboratories also receive funding through grants or contracts from other government agencies (OA), from nonfederal government (NFG) agencies, and from industry in the form of Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs). All other laboratory funding, including that for Calibration Services, is grouped under “Other Reimbursable.”

a Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

b The number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.

not at all. Overall, a clear understanding at the start of projects about the resources that will be needed and how these resources will be provided may assist BFRL in appropriately leveraging its scarce internal resources and allow the laboratory to avoid the current situation, in which some researchers are involved in a large number of projects.

The BFRL is seeking to formalize a relationship with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in which NIST would officially provide the research capabilities needed by FEMA. The panel strongly endorses this approach, as well as a similar approach already in progress with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in which external funding is provided for an array of BFRL projects in support of HUD's Partnership for Advancing Technologies in Housing (PATH). These affiliations exemplify good external support. Two things are important: (1) long-term commitments and (2) goals consistent with the BFRL and NIST missions. These qualities allow the laboratory to make long-term plans for research strategies and staffing levels. The relationships with FEMA and HUD are beneficial to both parties: the agencies get sound technical advice and NIST gains influential advocates who can promote BFRL results to industry and support funding for BFRL in Congress.

The strain on morale caused by funding instability and staff reductions (as a result of retirements and voluntary departures as well as RIFs) is particularly apparent among younger staff. The loss of mentors and the decreasing opportunities to be involved in long-term research programs, as well as the large number of projects per person in some areas, are very hard on junior personnel. Yet these are the

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

people who will ensure that BFRL continues to support a key sector of the U.S. economy. The United States is currently facing a challenge of unprecedented proportions with regard to its vital infrastructure. The building and construction industries account for more than 12 percent of the U.S. economy, and the unique role played by BFRL in support of the measurements, standards, and technologies needed by these industries clearly justifies why NIST should provide adequate funding for it. External support for the other NIST Measurement and Standards Laboratories as a whole is 16 percent of their total budget. The panel believes that bringing BFRL's ratio in line with that at other laboratories would relieve pressure on the BFRL staff and provide benefit to the large industry served by BFRL's work.

The outlook for BFRL facilities appears to be brighter than in the past. Most reassuring is the progress on the Large Fire Research Facility (Building 205); the facility should be back in service by January 2001. The capability to do real-scale fire testing is vital to the fire research programs going on in BFRL, and the panel applauds NIST for committing the resources necessary to repair and refurbish this facility.

DIVISIONAL REVIEWS

Structures Division
Division Mission

According to division documentation, the mission of the Structures Division is to promote construction productivity and structural safety by providing measurements and standards for key technologies supporting the design, construction, and serviceability of constructed facilities, including infrastructure lifeline systems.

The current array of projects in the Structures Division aligns well with this mission and supports the laboratory's major objectives. The emphasis on research that culminates in the development of design standards is appropriate and valuable to industries involved in building design, construction, and maintenance. In support of national needs, the division also conducts postdisaster and failure investigations in order to understand the shortcomings of existing structures and design standards and improve the safety of constructed facilities. Recent studies of this kind include an analysis of an engineered building that suffered structural damage in the Oklahoma City tornado of May 1999 and an analysis of the performance of buildings during the August 1999 earthquake in Turkey.

Technical Merit and Appropriateness of Work

The Structures Division is currently organized in three groups: Construction Metrology and Automation, Structural Evaluation and Standards, and Structural Systems and Design. All of the projects in the division are of high quality and technical merit. The division is providing important competence and support for key BFRL major products and objectives: the Partnership for High-Performance Concrete Technology (PHPCT), the Performance Standards System for Housing (PSSH), and the Construction Integration and Automation Technology (CONSiAT). In addition, the division undertakes several projects within the major objective of Earthquake, Fire, and Wind Engineering (EFWE) and conducts hazard reconnaissance missions and failure investigations. The following discussion highlights progress and successes in the work under way in the division.

In the Construction Metrology and Automation Group, research efforts are well-focused on the development of CONSiAT, and excellent progress has been made. The coordination between this group and the Computer-Integrated Construction Group in the Building Environment Division improved

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

significantly over the past year owing to the appointment of a new leader to coordinate goals and resources for CONSiAT and strengthened connections between the groups at the project level. A significant step toward establishing an industry sponsor and champion for this NIST work was achieved this year with the creation of the FIATECH Consortium, which is affiliated with the Construction Industry Institute and includes several key players from the construction industry. These accomplishments are commendable, and the panel hopes to see swift validation and deployment of the CONSiAT product in the next few years. In fact, rapid progress is essential if NIST is to stay ahead of the constant new developments in computer and communications technologies.

In the Structural Evaluation and Standards Group, very good progress has been made on characterization of the fire performance of high-strength concrete, part of the PHPCT. This effort is an excellent example of the strong collaboration between this group and the Building Materials Division. Another project that could have a great impact on the construction industry is the work on accelerated curing of high-strength concrete and the development of quantitative measures to replace 60-year-old empirical information. Research on characterizing the behavior of FRP composites and their in-service assessment using nondestructive testing methods holds significant promise for repair of existing structures and in situ evaluation of performance-based design standards. However, the work on FRPs could benefit from more sharply focused objectives and better alignment with the major objectives of BFRL. Structures Division staff should be encouraged to reach out to Building Materials Division staff to strengthen the collaborative work on the durability of FRP composites.

In the Structural Systems and Design Group, the progress toward development of testing guidelines for passive energy dissipation devices is satisfactory. Stronger focus is needed for the development of next-generation standards for wind loads. Analytical simulation capabilities might integrate this project more closely with the PSSH objective by supporting multihazard performance evaluation of existing structures. Increased participation in PSSH should result in a better integration of the wind engineering competence of the division into the project and a more substantial validation of the developed standards through analytical simulations. Overall, the panel believes that any efforts on housing standards cannot be successful without a more significant experimental and analytical component and a better identification of the wind hazard for this type of construction.

Impact of Programs

The Structures Division utilizes a variety of methods to disseminate results, including research reports, development of design guidelines, and participation in key national committees. A particularly outstanding example of the division's work is the validation and standardization of the nondestructive testing methodology. The panel notes with some concern that the visibility of the division's work has decreased in recent years. Although this is a natural consequence of the retirement of BFRL's past director, who was responsible for much of this visibility, efforts should be focused on making better use of Web technology to disseminate information about the division's projects, goals, and accomplishments.

Division Resources

Funding sources for the Structures Division are shown in Table 7.2. As of January 2000, staffing for the Structures Division included 20 full-time permanent positions, of which 17 were for technical professionals. There were also five nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and part-time workers.

The panel noted with concern the low level (10 percent) of external funding in the division's budget. This percentage is lower than the NIST average (~20 percent) and much lower than the level in BFRL

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

TABLE 7.2 Sources of Funding for the Structures Division (in millions of dollars), FY 1997 to FY 2000

Source of Funding

Fiscal Year

1997 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1998 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1999 (actual)

Fiscal Year

2000 (estimated)

NIST-STRS, excluding Competence

3.1

2.3

3.1

2.7

STRS, nonbase

0.0

0.6

0.4

0.0

ATP

0.0

0.0

0.1

0.1

OA/NFG/CRADA

0.4

0.5

0.3

0.3

Total

3.5

3.4

3.9

3.1

Full-time permanent staff (total)a

21

20

21

20

NOTE: Sources of funding are as described in the note accompanying Table 7.1.

a The number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.

as a whole (35 percent). A change in the Structures Division's approach is needed immediately, because the current situation may be adversely affecting the viability of the division. The importance of securing more outside funding should be conveyed to the group leaders and technical staff, since their participation and help are essential in this effort. A specific concern of the panel is whether the division is able to fund current efforts in support of the PSSH, a BFRL-wide major product. As discussed above, the Structures Division should play a more significant role in integrating the efforts related to PSSH and should also be afforded a larger allocation of the external funds supporting this product.

The morale among staff in the division is low as a result of the budget shortfall for fiscal year 2000 and the announcement of a reduction in force, to occur this summer. While the current staffing of the CONSiAT project is adequate, this is not the case for projects in the Structural Evaluation and Standards and Structural Systems and Design Groups. In these groups, the small number of people and large number of projects are fragmenting staff time and reducing efficiency because of the extra effort required to manage many small projects. The division should consider reducing the number of projects, integrating the goals of the division's work more tightly with the major objectives of the laboratory, and then leveraging available resources outside the division to support these newly focused efforts. Adding a staff member with expertise in nonlinear simulation of structures might assist in these tasks. A person with this expertise could serve as a catalyst for the deployment of the next-generation standards for wind loads, contribute to a better integration of the experimental and analytical efforts of the Structural Systems and Design Group into PSSH, and provide expertise for the numerical validation of structural control and passive dissipation concepts in connection with the performance-based evaluation of existing structures and the design of new structures.

One of the major commitments of the Structures Division is participation in and leadership of a variety of technical working groups and standards committees. Although these activities are important and provide visibility for division staff and NIST, the time and resources are a drain on the division at a time when budgets are very tight; thus, it would be prudent if some of these activities were judiciously discontinued. Another major role of the division is supervision, evaluation, and coordination of wind engineering research at Texas Tech University. Although this activity also provides visibility for BFRL and NIST, it is not clear to the panel what effect BFRL staff have on this congressionally mandated endeavor.

Laboratory equipment is in dire need of maintenance and upgrading. Its poor condition, the lack of stable annual maintenance funds from NIST, and the serious shortage of staff and support personnel are

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

jeopardizing the ability of the Structures Division to conduct cutting-edge research into the characterization of the behavior of constructed facilities through integration of experimental and analytical studies. The panel does note with satisfaction that progress has been made on upgrading the tridirectional test facility and hopes that this equipment can be put to effective use soon. However, given the present limitations on staff and funding, it is not clear how this will be accomplished. The Structures Division's plan to establish an external panel to assess the value of the 53-MN testing machine within a national framework of test facilities is appropriate. If this group finds a valid and necessary role for this large NIST testing machine, the division should proceed expeditiously on estimating the cost for the renovation and upgrade.

Building Materials Division
Division Mission

According to division documentation, the mission of the Building Materials Division is to perform research to advance construction materials science and technology by conducting analytical, laboratory, and field research, including the development of methods to measure and predict service life of construction materials, and by developing technical bases for improving criteria and standards used to evaluate, select, use, and maintain construction materials and for improving tools to make decisions in selecting construction materials, including high-performance concrete and steels.

The Building Materials Division, like BFRL overall, performs a unique national function by providing a forum in which the nation's building and construction industries can define research and development needs, coordinate collaborative research, develop new standards, and disseminate the results of new technologies. The division is responsible for two of BFRL's major objectives, the Partnership for High-Performance Concrete Technologies (PHPCT) and the Service Life Prediction of Materials (SLPM), which contribute to BFRL's overall efforts in support of the building and construction industries. The division's work on identifying research needs and developing standards for the use of FRP composites in construction also contributes appropriately to fulfillment of the laboratory mission.

Technical Merit and Appropriateness of Work

Overall, the research carried out by the Building Materials Division staff is of excellent quality. The focus of the work is impressive, as is the staff's enthusiasm for the division's activities. Project summaries provided to the panel were quite good, especially in the highlighting of milestones; specific examples of how milestones were achieved would be useful as well. The Building Materials Division contains two groups: the Inorganic Building Materials Group, which coordinates projects supporting the PHPCT, and the Organic Building Materials Group, which includes projects concerned with the SLPM. Also in this division is the Construction Materials Reference Laboratory, which is managed by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and contains the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory and the AASHTO Materials Reference Laboratory. Much of the work performed in the division is highly interdisciplinary in nature, and interactions with other units in BFRL appear to be both appropriate and well coordinated. For example, a collaboration with the Structures and Building Environment Divisions is looking at issues related to the fire performance of high-performance concrete, and cooperative work with the Structures Division focuses on issues related to design standards for high-performance concrete.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

The work carried out in the Inorganic Building Materials Group is well formulated, with clear objectives and well-planned milestones for a number of projects supporting the PHPCT. The well-defined product of the PHPCT is HYPERCON, a user-accessible, computer-integrated knowledge system (CIKS) that will contain validated models for predicting the properties of high-performance concretes and optimizing their cost and performance attributes. The projects supporting PHPCT are aimed at developing the materials science knowledge necessary for making high-performance concrete a usable, well understood, and controllable material, and HYPERCON will disseminate this information through a synergistic combination of databases, models, and computational tools. Supporting projects include work on mixing and flow properties related to the processing of high-performance concrete. This effort is concerned with the development and application of models, guidelines, and measurement techniques for optimizing the proportioning and processing of high-performance concrete. It is producing relevant and timely results, such as the milestone documented in a paper on mineral admixtures effects on concrete rheology.2 A second project with direct relevance to the successful application of high-performance concrete is work on the micro- and macrostructural characterization of this material utilizing advanced x-ray diffraction techniques such as Rietveld refinement. This project appears to be progressing very well, although a delay of roughly 6 months is expected while a new diffractometer is installed. Data from the project are being incorporated into a CIKS for HYPERCON. A third project is using simulation to predict the performance and service life of high-performance concrete, compared with alternative construction materials. Life-cycle costing is part of the analysis.

In the Organic Building Materials Group, projects within the SLPM objective are somewhat less focused on a single output but are well organized around a common theme: providing the knowledge to develop methods for predicting the life-cycle performance of construction materials, including coatings and FRP composites. Work on photodegradation of polymeric systems has produced a number of important results. Over the last year, impressive progress was made on construction of the 2-m UV integrating sphere that will provide controlled exposure of materials under combinations of environmental stresses to support various aspects of the SLPM objective. The improvements in repeatability and reproducibility made possible with this design were described in a paper published in 1999.3 The sphere is near completion, and a UV lamp system has been ordered. In addition, NIST has apparently successfully worked its way through the process necessary to obtain a patent for this integrating sphere, and the division expected to have its claims allowed in February 2000.

In parallel to the equipment development effort that produced the integrating sphere, data collection and modeling research relevant to photodegradation of polymeric systems are continuing. In cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Smithsonian Institution, the laboratory has gained access to 6 additional sites at which to remotely collect natural radiation exposure data, giving NIST participation in a network of 10 such sites in the United States. Work continues with researchers at Washington State University and elsewhere on the development of models for cumulative damage in exposed polymeric coatings. Work on a one-dimensional model of moisture transport was completed recently, and work on a two-dimensional model is expected to be completed in 2000. The project will have reached its critical milestone at the close of 2000 with submission of a paper on the validation of

2  

C.F. Ferraris, K.H. Obla, and R. Hill, “The Influence of Mineral Admixtures on the Rheology of Cement Paste and Concrete,” Cement and Concrete Research, February 2000. Available at <http://ciks.cbt.nist.gov/~garbocz/ccr2000/ccrmain.html>.

3  

J.W. Martin, J.W. Chin, W.E. Byrd, E.J. Embree, and K.M. Kraft, “Integrating Sphere-based Ultraviolet Exposure Chamber Design for Photodegradation of Polymeric Materials,” Polymer Degradation and Stability 63(1999):297-304. Available at <http://fire.nist.gov/bfrlpubs/build99/art013.html>.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

the reciprocity law for exposure of synthetic polymeric coatings to UV radiation. Development of a plan for broad dissemination of this knowledge to industry would be an excellent way to conclude this significant effort.

During the past year, substantial effort has been devoted to planning for collaboration with industry on a new phase of the project on optical properties of coatings. BFRL has collaborated on the coating appearance program with the NIST Physics, Information Technology, and Manufacturing Engineering Laboratories for several years, and the optical properties project is an extension of this program, which exemplifies the value that can be gained from an interlaboratory effort. BFRL intends to add a laser goniometric scattering system to the arsenal of tools used in this program. A physicist with experience in optics as well as polymeric materials will use this tool to apply scattering principles learned in previous work with small-angle neutron scattering to studies of rough and smooth surfaces and subsurface structures. This method will complement the laser scanning microscopy, interferometry, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and other methods already used advantageously in BFRL's coating appearance work. The work will begin with clear and titanium dioxide-filled model systems and progress to gonio-apparent materials, which exhibit reflectance properties that vary with angles of illumination and observation.

The relatively new project on nanoscale chemical characterization seeks new areas of application for AFM. The topographic imaging capabilities of AFM are well established, resting on the generation of images related to the vertical and horizontal movement of the probe tip. However, AFM's non-topographic imaging capabilities are not as well established; these are related to the interactions of tips with the surfaces of various materials by mechanical, chemical, magnetic, and other means. The Building Materials Division proposes to modify AFM tips using self-assembled monolayers, which will enable scientists to take specific chemical entities directly to the surface to be studied. By controlling relative humidity using a novel environmental sample chamber, NIST staff will be able to use AFM to probe some of the very important interactions governing the durability of polymeric materials. This effort builds on a growing understanding of how water acts in the small spaces of interfaces and interphases, and the work clearly promises to enhance NIST's reputation in the field of nanotechnology. The project builds on some very interesting AFM work done over the past few years involving BFRL staff and informal interlaboratory relationships with researchers from MSEL and CSTL.

The projects under way on polymer composite properties are addressing the use of FRP composite materials for civil structures. A government-industry-academia workshop was held in November 1999 to announce the initiation of efforts to develop a load-resistance-factor design standard for FRP composite materials and to identify near-term research needs; the division is now organizing a government-industry consortium to support this effort. Other areas of interest include studies of matrix resin durability in water, saltwater, and alkaline environments; service life prediction of FRP composite materials exposed to moisture, UV radiation, and mechanical loading; and fatigue durability of FRP composites in seawater. These efforts will take advantage of the 2-m UV integrating sphere, an important new resource for performing accelerated, artificial UV weathering of coatings, plastics, and FRP composites. Another important project in this area involves the development of methodologies for predicting the service life of FRP composites in structural applications, which includes studies of the effects of combined mechanical loading and environmental exposure on the properties of FRP composite structural materials. Work in all of these areas appears to be proceeding in a timely fashion.

Impact of Programs

The work conducted at BFRL is specifically intended to be shared with the construction community in as timely a fashion as is practical. Another goal is to coordinate work with efforts outside NIST for

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

purposes that include enhancing the scope of the work, increasing its impact, and ensuring that the focus is correct. To this end, the Building Materials Division maintains extensive collaborations and interactions with industry, academia, other government laboratories and regulatory bodies, and standards organizations. In fact, much of the division's work is performed in consortia of universities, industrial groups, and government. The consortium mode, often implemented within a CRADA, is an effective way to ensure that the work performed is focused on topics that directly impact industry and building practice. The division will soon have three or four consortia in place.

The SLPM program is an admirable example of the effective leveraging of consortium involvement. This consortium includes many of the important players in this area (such as Sherwin Williams, Dow Chemical, and the Federal Highway Administration); the results of NIST's work can therefore be expected to be adopted quickly by industry and to have a significant impact on the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, because much of the division's work on service life prediction of organic materials is done within consortia and as such is largely considered to be proprietary, the panel is limited in its ability to perform a thorough review. (The work is shared among consortium members, but, to encourage companies to contribute fiscal and technological support to the consortium activities, it is not made public for 2 years.) Nevertheless, the SLPM projects' progress on developing tools that will shorten product development cycles is indisputable. In 1999, the division's efforts led to an excellent book on a systems approach to service life prediction.4 The wide range of authors for this volume testifies to the SLPM's significance to both industry and the research community.

In the Building Materials Division, a variety of dissemination mechanisms are employed. For several projects, the specific plans for sharing NIST findings appear to have progressed well. For example, the Internet will be used extensively to disseminate information on HUD's PATH program, and NIST staff intend to work with the National Association of Home Builders Research Center to develop a Web-based CIKS that includes guidance on the selection of materials, as well as on design and construction for durability.

Workshops continue to be used effectively to disseminate Building Materials Division research results and plans for future activities. A good example is the workshop held in November 1999 on the use of FRP composite material in civil structures. The workshop discussions led to a report outlining the types of research needed on such topics as the durability of FRP composites in the civil infrastructure and the development of a load and resistance factor design standard for FRP composite materials. These efforts are an important first step toward enabling the eventual rational use of such materials for construction.

In PHPCT projects related to cement and concrete, the Web-based HYPERCON is intended to be the primary means of knowledge dissemination, and the work is in fact focusing on predictive tools. To help ensure that this product has maximum impact on the user community, Building Materials Division staff have met with people at the American Concrete Institute (ACI) to discuss how ACI could help implement HYPERCON and facilitate training for the industrial community in the use of this system.

Division Resources

Funding sources for the Building Materials Division are shown in Table 7.3. As of January 2000, staffing for the Building Materials Division included 20 full-time permanent positions, of which 17 were

4  

D.R Bauer, and J.W. Martin, eds., Service Life Prediction of Organic Coatings: a Systems Approach, ACS Symposium Series 722, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1999.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

TABLE 7.3 Sources of funding for the Building Materials Division (in millions of dollars), FY 1997 to FY 2000

Source of Funding

Fiscal Year

1997 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1998 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1999 (actual)

Fiscal Year

2000 (estimated)

NIST-STRS, excluding Competence

2.4

1.7

1.8

1.8

Competence

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.2

STRS, nonbase

0.0

0.1

0.1

0.1

ATP

0.1

0.2

0.1

0.2

OA/NFG/CRADA

1.2

1.7

1.8

2.3

Other Reimbursable

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.1

Total

4.0

3.9

4.1

4.6

Full-time permanent staff (total)a

26

24

21

20

NOTE: Sources of funding are as described in the note accompanying Table 7.1.

a The number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.

for technical professionals. There were also two nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and part-time workers.

A significant portion of the Building Materials Division's budget, approximately 45 percent, is derived from external sources. The subpanel believes that this outside support can be appropriate, providing the funding and the projects supported by it remain consistent with the laboratory and division missions and objectives. Outside funding can provide external validation that NIST efforts are focused on relevant topics. Currently the outside money is supporting high-quality research, but when the dependence on external agencies and organizations is so high, there is always the danger that pressure from these other institutions could alter the division's research agenda. The division 's reliance on external funds reflects the fact that the two major objectives supported primarily in this division derive 25 percent (PHPCT) and 44 percent (SLPM) of their funding from other agencies.

The panel observed several areas in which specific additional resources are needed. As noted in last year's report, another person is required to assist on the development of CIKS and on the PSSH program. Uncertainties about future funding may be keeping the division from hiring such a person, but this expertise is needed to support an important BFRL product. Several pieces of equipment should be purchased as well. Access to an ion chromatograph is necessary to study the ionic chemistry in the aqueous phases of cement pastes and concrete. A nano-indenter should be available for the research on interfaces and interphases in polymeric systems. Equipment for light scattering would be valuable in the work on appearance. While the panel acknowledges that it is difficult to acquire the funding for capital equipment purchase and payback, the laboratory and NIST should recognize that such equipment would be highly beneficial and would enable staff to achieve project and product goals efficiently.

Modeling and simulation now play a central and successful role in the PHPCT and in other Building Materials Division projects, and laboratory staff emphasized the importance of having access to an upgraded computational facility. Fiber-optic outlets were recently installed in the division's own Computational Materials Science Laboratory to improve networking capabilities within this facility as well as in connections with NIST's central computer. The simulation of models for cement and concrete rheology could put a high-performance workstation to good use, and the division's work will certainly benefit if the central NIST computing facility is upgraded as planned.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
Building Environment Division
Division Mission

According to division documentation, the mission of the Building Environment Division is to provide technologies to reduce the cost of designing and operating buildings and increase the international competitiveness of the U.S. building industry by providing modeling, measurement, and test methods needed to use advanced computation and automation effectively in construction, to improve the quality of the indoor environment, and to improve the performance of building equipment and systems.

The Building Environment Division conducts a variety of projects in the areas described by this mission statement. The work done supports several of the BFRL's major objectives: Metrology for Sustainable Buildings (MSB), Cybernetic Building Systems (CBS), Construction Integration and Automation Technologies (CONSiAT), and Performance Standards System for Housing (PSSH); the division has primary responsibility for the first two of these. The aims of the projects carried out by the panel are consistent with the goals of the laboratory objectives and are in conformance with the division, laboratory, and NIST missions. Division management continues to reprogram funds to ensure that the portfolio of projects evolves to meet the changing needs of the building industries. Work has ended in some areas and the results have been disseminated to the relevant communities. These areas include support for the moisture flow analysis software program MOIST, study of flammable refrigerants in water-to-water heat pumps, modeling of ventilation in manufactured housing, and implementation of tools for ventilation standards.

Technical Merit and Appropriateness of Work

The Building Environment Division is comprised of five groups: Thermal Machinery, Heat Transfer, Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation, Mechanical Systems and Controls, and Computer-Integrated Construction. The first three groups focus on projects that support the MSB objective; the Mechanical Systems and Controls Group works on CBS; and the Computer-Integrated Construction Group contributes to both CBS and CONSiAT. The panel found that the division's programs were generally well planned and executed, and work was performed with a high level of professionalism.

A wide range of Building Environment Division products support the MSB objective, including data, measurement methods, test methods, simulation models, and analysis tools. These outputs support the widespread application of sustainability concepts to the design, construction, operation, and demolition of buildings and their systems.

The goal of the work in the Thermal Machinery Group is to reduce energy consumption in building air-conditioning systems (commercial and residential). The project on refrigerants with low global warming potential and on options for improved efficiency is evaluating technology options that can reduce the impact of refrigeration systems on global climate change, including the option of using carbon dioxide (CO 2) as a substitute for hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. Since the total impact of a system on global warming depends on emissions both from the refrigerant itself and from the energy supply to the system, a proper evaluation must take into account the energy efficiency of the system. Tasks under way include investigating equipment that might improve the efficiency of CO2-based systems, conducting laboratory measurements to answer questions about the thermal properties of CO2, and employing this knowledge to make models that compare the energy efficiencies of systems that use CO2 and HFCs in equipment of similar design. This activity is appropriate for the Building Environ

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

ment Division, because NIST's reputation as a source of unbiased research and data evaluation will help settle the many conflicting reports that have been issued about the energy efficiencies of CO2 and HFC systems. These disagreements are probably due to the use of different property data and equipment configurations for measurements and models, and NIST's work in this area is well formulated to resolve the discrepancies. Since CO2 has been proposed for use in building and automotive air-conditioning systems, it is important that decisions be based on correct data for energy efficiency.

A related project has focused on improving the fundamental understanding of the phase-change process of refrigerant-lubricant mixtures. The amount and type of lubricant circulating through heat exchangers can impact heat transfer and, ultimately, the energy efficiency of the system. The Thermal Machinery Group is utilizing a fluorescence spectroscopy measurement technique to determine the concentration of lubricant at the internal-tube boiling surface. The test apparatus is very orderly and well designed, which is essential for the meticulous and detailed collection of data required; planned variables are the lubricant's bulk concentration, viscosity, and miscibility with the refrigerant. The potential impact of this work is significant, because a better understanding of the refrigerant-lubricant boiling process could allow engineers to design heat exchangers with better heat transfer and energy efficiency and could even open up new design directions. NIST is the appropriate location for this work, since it is unlikely that a company would expend the time and money necessary for such a fundamental and detailed study. The panel notes that the accuracy of the fluorescence measurement technique for determining lubricant thickness will be critical for confirming the test results.

The Thermal Machinery Group is also studying how microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) can be used in the control and maintenance of U.S. refrigeration and air-conditioning machinery. Possible functions include measurement of compressor vibration (the initial focus of NIST work); sensors for temperature, pressure, flow, composition of refrigerant and lubricant, and refrigerant leakage; and monitoring of off-design operation of the system. All of these applications could contribute to improving the energy efficiency of the machinery, reducing service costs, and increasing reliability. The group's current major tasks are designing, fabricating, and installing a MEMS device in a building application so that its performance and effects can be evaluated and identifying areas in which the building industry could use MEMS. The panel is very impressed and excited about the prospects for this project, and it encourages the division to investigate ways to speed up the program, such as contracting out the building of the vibration sensor to a company devoted to making new MEMS devices.

The final large project in the Thermal Machinery Group—the development of simulation models for vapor compression systems and components—aims to facilitate the study of alternative refrigerants and optimize the design of effective equipment. This work builds on the group's experience with devising successful refrigerant computer programs that are widely used by the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry today. Given the laboratory test capabilities available in this group and the access to the thermophysical property data in the REFPROP (refrigerant properties database) program, NIST is well-positioned to tackle a variety of system modeling tasks related to vapor compression systems. The current focus is on testing and modeling of the alternative refrigerants R410A and R22 at high ambient temperatures (near their critical temperatures). This work, which is supported by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Institute (ARTI), will include development and validation of evaporator and condenser models. In other areas, the group will continue to work on an algorithm for optimized heat exchanger design that can be applied to a wide range of evaporator sizes and to provide technical support for standard reference data simulation programs for cycle calculations (CYCLE D) and refrigerant mixture leakage behavior (REFLEAK).

In the Heat Transfer Group, the work on photovoltaic panels aims to develop measurement techniques and validated predictive performance models for building-integrated photovoltaic products.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

Several test facilities have been constructed at NIST. An assortment of different photovoltaic panels has been installed in place of windows on a vertical wall of the laboratory building, and data collection on these modules began in fiscal year 2000. A mobile test apparatus has been built to allow large sections containing building-integrated panels to be installed and tested at different orientations to the Sun and under different environmental conditions; this device will be used to perform short-term characterizations of various cell technologies such as crystalline and amorphous. The goal is to build a database describing the panels' performance and to develop a predictive model that can explain the observed behavior. In the past, industry concentrated on performance tests of small, stand-alone photovoltaic panels, but when panels are integrated into a building system, they form the outer skin of the building envelope and are directly in front of insulated wall areas. Although the insulation contributes to the good thermal performance of the building overall, it also may drastically change the temperature of the panels, thereby substantially altering their electrical performance. Tests such as those being developed at NIST will provide new data and more accurate information about the functioning of photovoltaic panels in buildings, and hopefully this knowledge will result in practical tools that can be used to employ photovoltaic technologies productively in new buildings. The group has, appropriately, phased out work on photovoltaic water heating in order to concentrate on building-integrated panels used for electricity generation, and the panel believes the project plans are well thought out and on target.

In its second area of concentration, the Heat Transfer Group has a well-deserved international reputation for its work on thermal conductivity measurements. NIST has developed thermal property measurement tools, procedures, and standards for building materials, industrial applications, and innovative insulation systems. Staff continue to organize international studies and comparisons of thermal conductivity standards. A new facility will allow them to accurately measure the characteristics of advanced insulation systems, such as vacuum panels, which have the potential to substantially increase the energy efficiency of appliances such as refrigerators and, in the future, to substantially reduce energy loss from building envelopes. Another new test facility was designed to allow measurement of the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of advanced concrete at elevated temperatures and includes a protective envelope to safeguard against concrete that occasionally separates explosively when heated. This year, the group plans to undertake the design and partial fabrication of a high-temperature guarded hot plate. The NIST program in thermal conductivity measurements is essential to maintaining U.S. and international standards in this area. The existence of these standards is crucial for the competitiveness of U.S. companies, and the NIST program provides additional support to industry by developing the facilities needed to test innovative building products.

The Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group has undertaken a number of projects in support of the MSB objective, as well as a few efforts that contribute to the PSSH objective. A major project in the MSB area is the work on contaminant-based design procedures. In this activity, staff are developing methodology and software tools to allow the design of building and ventilation systems based on actual contaminant loads rather than on a prescriptive standard for ventilation per person or per unit floor area. A primary product of the group 's work in this area is CONTAM, a contaminant dispersal simulation program. To evaluate the quality of this predictive model, NIST personnel are monitoring indoor contaminant levels and ventilation rates in a large office building in Washington, D.C. (the American Association for the Advancement of Science headquarters). The panel supports the division's effort to place more emphasis on developing data that can be used to validate contaminant-based models developed at NIST. Other group activities include contributing to the design analysis of an Oberlin College building with a large atrium and developing the methodology for indoor air quality design procedures in American Society for Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 62. Application of contamination analysis tools to systems in residential buildings will become an important

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

new sector, but the panel cautions that the size and diversity of residences may make generalization of the results difficult.

The Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group also is working on issues related to the infiltration and ventilation of large buildings. Without adequate knowledge of the mechanisms contributing to air leakage, engineers cannot properly design energy-efficient ventilation systems. Preliminary work at NIST concentrated on collecting data on air leakage in commercial buildings, an initial analysis of the energy impacts of air leakage, and development of computer tools to allow simultaneous thermal and airflow predictions. Current work includes analysis of the energy impact of infiltration and ventilation, study of the potential for natural ventilation in U.S. office buildings, and development of performance standards for residential indoor environments.

The Mechanical Systems and Controls Group manages a series of projects in support of CBS, a BFRL major product in which the overall goal is to improve the productivity of building occupants and reduce building life-cycle costs. One of the most important components of the CBS objective is the work on the expansion, certification, and demonstration of BACnet. BACnet is an open, nonproprietary communication protocol standard that allows control equipment for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, security, and other building functions to communicate with each other and share data. At this time, most BACnet products are for HVAC control applications, but expansion into lighting and security systems is a goal for fiscal year 2000. The full-scale demonstration of CBS in the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco is progressing well; this high-profile, full-scale test of the BACnet standard will help establish the robustness and validity of the BACnet protocol and raise awareness of it. Another valuable accomplishment of the Mechanical Systems and Controls Group is the facilitation of the formation of a BACnet Manufacturers Association, which will create and operate a certification program for BACnet products. Currently, the group leader is serving on the U.S. technical advisory group that is supporting the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) effort on the international standardization of BACnet; the panel believes that one or two more people are needed to help with the many different activities associated with making BACnet an accepted international standard.

The Mechanical Systems and Controls Group is also working on fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) for HVAC systems. This project, under way since 1991, focuses on the development of tools to assist building operators and maintenance personnel in detecting problems as they occur, determining which component or system is failing or has failed, and then determining the appropriate maintenance or repair procedure. The group has established an Alliance for the Advancement of Building Performance with a number of external organizations, including Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; it is also working on a demonstration project at a local college and is contributing to the CBS test in the Phillip Burton Federal Building. There are also CRADAs in place to support efforts—with Johnson Controls, Inc.—to develop and test FDD methods for air-handling units and, with Honeywell, for nonintrusive load monitors. The group also plans to integrate the FDD testbed into the Virtual Cybernetic Building Testbed to enable online testing of FDD methods. The panel believes this set of activities and goals is well directed at assisting building operators and maintenance personnel in using FDD methods to improve the performance of their buildings.

In the Mechanical Systems and Controls Group, the CBS objective is also supported by the development of a VCBT, which links simulation models with real BACnet controllers. The testbed is intended to facilitate the study of interactions between building control systems and between HVAC systems and fires. To date, the group has conducted an industry workshop and developed a proof-of-concept building emulator containing simulations for mechanical systems and building fire behavior.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

The VCBT is ultimately designed to speed the introduction of commercial CBS products, and the panel believes that it is an important tool for assessing and demonstrating CBS technology. Some level of activity to validate the VCBT on multiple buildings should be considered.

In the Computer Integrated Construction Group, a new project was started in 1999 to support the information representation needs of CBS: product data standards for heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC/R) systems. The objective of this project is to develop a standards-based information infrastructure that is able to support the access, exchange, and storage of information related to HVAC/R systems in facilities. The panel was impressed that the group continues to maintain an awareness of relevant international standards, such as the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) industry foundation classes (IFCs), and to play a role in their development. Staff plan to assess the current IAI IFC releases to determine if they could serve as a basis for the HVAC/R information model; they also plan to construct and test in VBCT a product data model and communicate the results back to the IAI. With such activities, NIST can play an important role in the creation, demonstration, and testing of these standards for the exchange of product model data (STEP).

The remainder of the activities in the Computer Integrated Construction Group support the BFRL objective CONSiAT. Through its project on product data standards for the process plant industries, the group plays a major role in the refinement, testing, and implementation of three ISO STEP application protocols: functional data and their representation for process plants, plant spatial configuration, and process design and process specifications for major equipment. The panel was impressed by the group's progress on the development and testing of these important information exchange protocols, and the value of NIST's contributions was confirmed when the division's CRADA with the PlantSTEP consortium was extended for another 4 years. The panel believes that the Computer Integrated Construction Group could now focus on making similar types of contributions to the building construction industry. The success of the PlantSTEP consortium, which includes software vendors, engineering and construction firms, and plant owner-operators, indicates that it may be a good model for FIATECH to imitate.

Another effort supporting CONSiAT develops technologies for information management systems supporting the project delivery process. Most support systems for construction managers are document-based, and current model-based support is still insufficient to adequately support functional needs. The group plans to assess spatiotemporal database technology to identify missing functionality and to assess the American Institute for Steel Construction's CIMSteel Standard (CIS(2)), an emerging data exchange standard for the steel fabrication process. Staff will use the on-site construction work on Building 205 and the environmental chambers as a testbed to evaluate CIS(2)'s ability to track steelwork fabrication and erection processes. NIST involvement in the definition, refinement, demonstration, and assessment of international information exchange standards such as CIS(2) for the building construction industry is critical, and the panel supports these efforts within the CONSiAT product and suggests that more activity to support this sector of the industry is needed.

The project on developing advanced graphical user interfaces for construction project delivery systems is also using the NIST construction work as a testbed. The Computer Integrated Construction Group would like to support the move from paper-based information exchange to the use of Web-based three-dimensional graphical user interfaces that allow project managers to access project information when and where they need it. Recently, staff used the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to create a model of the steel sections in the framework of the NIST construction work; this model will be used to evaluate the information exchange made possible by CIS(2) and to assess the effectiveness of the VRML standard for supporting user interfaces for accessing and modifying project information during construction.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
Impact of Programs

The major programs under way in the Building Environment Division are addressing key needs of the building industry and building residents. Emphasis is placed on maintaining ties with industry so that staff can receive suggestions and support from the laboratory's customers and so that NIST results can be communicated quickly to relevant companies. NIST's contributions include research that produces the knowledge necessary to increase the energy efficiency of building systems; development of simulation tools to facilitate efficient and accurate design of indoor air quality systems, natural ventilation systems, and stairwell pressurization systems; work on the expansion, certification, and demonstration of BACnet, which allows building control systems to communicate with each other; and development, refinement, assessment, and demonstration of information exchange standards for architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) data. Many other examples of the division's achieved and potential impacts are described below.

The Thermal Machinery Group performs essential, precompetitive research that provides the basic understanding industry needs to direct its efforts toward products and techniques that will improve building energy efficiency. The work on evaluating the energy efficiency of refrigeration systems will allow accurate comparisons between systems that use HFCs and those that use refrigerants with low potential for global warming (e.g., CO2). This information will allow countries to make decisions about the best approaches for tackling global warming, so it is important that the project be completed in a timely manner and that the results be presented at international conferences to promote debate, understanding, and eventual consensus.

In the study of the phase-change process of refrigerant-lubricant mixtures, the ultimate goal is the ability to design more efficient, lower-cost, air-conditioning systems. Industry was involved in the earlier stages of this research, but the panel suggests that even more effort be made to engage it in the current program to ensure that the results are relevant to industry applications. Possible mechanisms to increase industrial input include inviting companies to a 1-day seminar, hosting one-on-one work days for those from the most interested companies, publishing results in widely read industry journals, and increasing NIST participation in relevant ASHRAE seminars and committees.

A good example of effective publicity for division products can be seen in the project on simulation models for vapor compression systems. Many NIST-developed computer programs in this area have been sold through the standard reference data branch of NIST, and the ARTI continues to support testing and model development for vapor compression systems. Based on the group's success in making its work known to and appreciated by the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry, the dissemination approaches used for this project could be applied to other NIST efforts.

In the Heat Transfer Group, the division's work on photovoltaic panels in integrated building systems is well formulated to facilitate the practical application of this technology. Incorporating panels into building systems on a large scale will enhance the visual appeal of the buildings and has the potential to substantially reduce the overall building and photovoltaic system cost. The project has strong ties to important collaborators, including major manufacturers of photovoltaic systems as well as universities and laboratories that are modeling basic performance. Currently, photovoltaic sales are $2 billion per year. Work on the photovoltaic water heater technology is being completed, and a license for this technology has been granted to a manufacturer. Although this is not the most thermodynamically optimal use of electricity produced by a photovoltaic panel, there may be a niche market for it.

The information the Heat Transfer Group provides about the thermal conductivity of materials is important in a broad range of industrial and scientific applications, ranging from proper temperature

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

control of electronic devices to optimization of the efficiency of many industrial processes. The group has a wide variety of collaborators, including insulation manufacturers, technical societies, and other international laboratories. Currently, staff are compiling data from an extensive number of thermal conductivity measurements made on building insulation materials at NIST into a Web-based database, and the panel recommends that this information be released to the public as soon as possible. Even if all of the results have not yet been organized, a partial collection of information will be of considerable value, and additional data can be added after the Web site is operational. Investigators should consider using commercially available tools for data display and analysis within the Web database.

In the area of contaminant-based design procedures, the Indoor Air Quality and Ventilation Group plans to present the Web-based contaminant design tools to a wide range of manufacturers and design firms at a building airflow analysis workshop. Potential future collaborators include design firms as well as a wide range of manufacturers of HVAC equipment, sensors, and controls. The proper application and potential impact of the NIST-developed tools should be defined in concert with these collaborators. Staff are also developing multizone airflow and indoor air quality design and simulation tools for a Web-based environment. Tools previously developed at NIST have been used on a limited basis by industry for the design of indoor air quality systems, natural ventilation systems, and stairwell pressurization systems. Current plans call for the group to release a Windows version of CONTAM and a beta version of a Web site for building airflow design and simulation; these common platforms are expected to facilitate use of NIST's products.

Within the CBS objective, the impact of NIST's work is illustrated by the growing number of companies using BACnet products; the number of installations worldwide jumped from 4,000 in 1998 to almost 10,000 in 2000. NIST is working with several industrial partners to expand the current suite of BACnet products beyond the current set for HVAC to products that will support lighting, fire, and security systems. As the range of products increases and their use becomes more widespread, the demand for the FDD and VCBT research being done in the Mechanical Systems and Controls Group will increase. FDD techniques will become a required tool for operations and maintenance personnel as the networks of devices for building control systems become large and complex, and the VCBT will become a dependable alternative for expensive field tests of BACnet products, thereby reducing costs associated with field testing. As BACnet and FDD products get implemented, the NIST Office of Applied Economics estimates that their use by building operations and maintenance personnel will result in total savings of more than $1 billion.

The Computer Integrated Construction Group has been very successful at helping to put together consortia (such as PlantSTEP and FIATECH) and at forming partnerships with AEC industry organizations and information research groups in other government agencies (OAs) and academia. Through these consortia and collaborations, NIST has been able to leverage its work on information exchange standards by demonstrating the standards and encouraging their adoption by industrial partners. The group leader has made notable contributions to the development, refinement, assessment, and demonstration of these standards for the AEC industry through his role as a member of the IAI technology advisory group. However, despite NIST's effort, a continual problem is the limited U.S. participation in international activities related to data exchange standards.

Throughout the Building Environment Division, the panel heard concerns from some staff that upper management was placing too much emphasis on short-term results and that this restricted focus was deterring programs requiring longer-term research to reach fruition. The panel notes that in some but not all instances, this tension could be alleviated by releasing interim short-term results from the longer-range programs. The concerns also extended to the BFRL's tendency to concentrate all of its

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

activities in a few large programs. The panel notes that consolidation of major activities into a modest number of well-defined areas has the virtue of increased impact, efficiency, and visibility; however, small start-up activities in potential new areas of importance should also have a place in the BFRL portfolio to ensure future NIST impact.

Division Resources

Funding sources for the Building Environment Division are shown in Table 7.4. As of January 2000, staffing for the Building Environment Division included 35 full-time permanent positions, of which 31 were for technical professionals. There were also seven nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and part-time workers.

Bringing in young investigators to augment the existing staff and introduce new approaches is a constant challenge. One possibility would be to institute a personnel exchange with industry and universities. This opportunity would be particularly helpful to both new investigators and established members of the NIST staff.

Physical facilities are for the most part adequate, and in many areas the equipment is impressive. However, there is a dearth of technician support, and in some cases, senior experimental investigators are spending a considerable amount of time on detailed construction of apparatus and instrumentation. The one major concern in the area of facilities is that the control system (the refrigeration system, heat transfer loop, and air handler) for Environmental Chamber 15 needs a major overhaul or replacement. This system was constructed in 1965 and has lasted for many years beyond its expected useful life. The refrigeration system piping has much corrosion, and several valves are not operable; the most serious safety problem, however, is in the heat-transfer loop, which contains methylene chloride, a suspected carcinogen. This substance is being replaced with alternative fluids by many companies in the United States for safety reasons. However, before beginning a major overhaul of the control system, the division should carefully assess the potential value of this environmental chamber to determine if a significant need exists for the capabilities it provides.

TABLE 7.4 Sources of Funding for the Building Environment Division (in millions of dollars), FY 1997 to FY 2000

Source of Funding

Fiscal Year

1997 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1998 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1999 (actual)

Fiscal Year

2000 (estimated)

NIST-STRS, excluding Competence

6.1

4.4

3.7

4.1

STRS, nonbase

0.0

1.0

0.7

0.8

ATP

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.2

OA/NFG/CRADA

2.2

1.9

2.0

2.3

Total

8.4

7.3

6.5

7.4

Full-time permanent staff (total)a

38

37

36

35

NOTE: Sources of funding are as described in the note accompanying Table 7.1.

a The number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
Fire Safety Engineering Division
Division Mission

According to division documentation, the mission of the Fire Safety Engineering Division is to develop, verify, and utilize measurements and predictive methods to quantify the behavior of fire and smoke and to assess ways of mitigating their impact on people, property, and the environment.

This mission statement is aligned with the overall missions of BFRL and NIST. The Fire Safety Engineering Division has primary responsibility for one BFRL major objective, the Industrial Fire Simulation System (IFS), and shares responsibility for another, Advanced Fire Measurements and Fire Fighting Technologies (AFM/FFT). The division also contributes to several other major objectives (Cybernetic Building Systems, Fire Safe Materials, Partnership for High-Performance Concrete Technologies, Partnership for Advanced Technologies for Housing, and Earthquake, Fire and Wind Engineering), thus playing an important role in fulfilling the laboratory mission. In addition to the internally funded efforts focused specifically on fundamental work supporting the laboratory objectives, the division takes on significant projects aimed at developing solutions to fire problems for other government agencies. These activities are typically applied research, and the results and experience gained by the division leverage the more basic research work ongoing in the BFRL. This provision of key support for other agencies is a traditional role of the Fire Safety Engineering Division.

A major challenge faced by the division is the definition and execution of its mission in a balanced manner. Technologies and measurement methods that facilitate improvements in the assessment and mitigation of fire hazards are needed across all commercial sectors of the fire protection industry. NIST must not be placed in the position of choosing winners and losers in ever-present commercial battles taking place at the level of individual companies or industry sectors. This danger is not new, but caution and ongoing attention are needed during the formulation of a long-term plan for the division.

Another important part of long-term planning is laying the groundwork for future developments. The fundamental work that formed the basis for the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) was initiated more than 20 years ago. Although all products will not require such lengthy preparation, it is essential that a serious commitment be made to the basic research that underpins the work that will meet the future needs of the fire safety community.

Technical Merit and Appropriateness of Work

The Fire Safety Engineering Division is organized into three groups: Fire Dynamics, Large Fire Research, and Fire Safety Systems. The technical work done in the division produces results that are vital to the development of the tools used by practitioners. A major product of the division's efforts is the FDS, which is the outcome of collaborative work by many individuals in BFRL; the project has its roots in large-eddy simulation work that has been going on in BFRL for more than 20 years. While this world-class enabling technology incorporates work from Fire Safety Engineering Division grantees, NIST is the only institution that could have made the consistent, long-term commitment required to conduct the research and pull together a complete product. Although this effort could not have been sustained in the private sector, the FDS will certainly be effectively employed by researchers and engineers from industry to further the community's understanding of fire dynamics and apply this understanding to solving fire problems at the building design stage.

The Fire Dynamics Group aims to increase understanding of fire phenomena and develop predictive models and methods that can be used to assess fire hazards. The success of the FDS in predict

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

ing the operation of sprinklers in heptane spray fires represents a significant advance in fire modeling capabilities. Perhaps the most significant aspect of this success is the relative ease with which sprinkler spray modeling was incorporated into the FDS model. The original system implemented a model for the dynamics of smoke particle transport that was sufficiently general and fundamental that the interaction of sprinkler sprays with fire flows could then be included by making relatively simple modifications to the existing particle transport model. This efficient expansion of the simulation system was possible because, although smoke particles and sprinkler sprays interact with fire in entirely different ways, the fundamental dynamics are describable by the same equations. The FDS thus illustrates the enhanced value that can result from high-quality fundamental work and the way such work can form the foundation for the solution of practical engineering problems.

Work to expand and improve FDS is continuing. One effort focuses on characterizing the sprinkler spray formation needed as input to the dynamics calculation. The current model uses generic spray formation data rather than data specific to the range of sprinklers currently available in the marketplace. Sprinkler producers have agreed to cooperate with NIST to make the necessary measurements, but the companies have not to date made much progress on this effort. Given that NIST 's work is focused directly on assisting this key fire protection industry, it is somewhat troubling that the division's efforts are not being well supported by the industry.

The group has several other efforts supporting continued enhancements of FDS, but some of these are not as focused on fundamental descriptions of fire phenomena as the work on fluid dynamics modeling that provided the foundation for FDS. For example, staff of the current NIST project on modeling the combustion of the fuel array and the effect of the water application on fire development are taking a somewhat pragmatic view. This may be a useful short-term approach for adding value to the FDS, but fundamental work on this very challenging problem should not be ignored in the process. Work in this area also clearly has the potential to be linked to the effort on Fire Safe Materials, and projects and results should be well integrated with that objective whenever possible. Another project dedicated to improving the FDS is the modeling of radiation for the system. This work appears to be based on the Lagrangian thermal element (LTE) gas-phase combustion model, and the panel is concerned that this could be a somewhat shortsighted approach. Laying the groundwork for radiation modeling with a gas-phase combustion model based on fundamental work would allow the FDS to address problems of importance; staff should consider putting such a fundamental model in place in order to maximize the eventual impact of their efforts on radiation modeling.

The Large Fire Research Group develops measurement equipment and techniques for collecting laboratory-quality data in field experiment environments and addressing the research goals within BFRL and at other government agencies. Both the laboratory and the field work are supporting fire model development and validation, source-term characterization, and fire event recreation and reconstruction. One of the group's main accomplishments is the development of a version of the ALOFT (A Large Outdoor Fire Plume Trajectory) model that predicts smoke movement from in situ burning of oil. This high-quality program is a clear improvement over the many existing models, and it significantly enhances scientists' ability to model smoke plumes from burning sources. The ALOFT product, based on the experimental and analytical work of this group, has facilitated the use of in situ burning as a means of limiting environmental damage from accidental oil spills. This group also manages the NIST Large Fire Research Facility (Building 205); this facility was closed down for many years but is finally undergoing necessary repairs and should reopen soon.

The Large Fire Research Group has helped to solve a wide range of fire problems for many government agencies, including the FEMA's U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in the Department of the Interior,

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the Justice Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). The projects undertaken for these agencies include development of a mobile fire laboratory in cooperation with the USFA, full-scale fire testing of passenger railcars for the FRA, and development of a standardized test method for the fire-resistant booms used to contain oil-spill burns for the Minerals Management Service (MMS).

The Fire Safety Engineering Division has had a long and productive relationship with FEMA's USFA. While major emergencies, especially natural disasters, are the main responsibility of FEMA, the research required to support FEMA's efforts can best be carried out within the research environment at BFRL. The connection between NIST and FEMA should continue, with the USFA providing direction and funding and BFRL providing the technical expertise needed to solve problems associated with mitigation of, preparation for, and response to natural and human-caused emergencies. The collaboration between the Large Fire Research Group and the USFA has led to the development of better methods for assessing the performance of firefighter turnout gear; these methods will lead to improvements in protective clothing and reduction in injuries to firefighters.

The Fire Safety Systems Group is focused on developing technologies for fire safety systems for buildings and on enabling the integration of these systems with other building systems. This group also maintains the Fire Research Information Services library, database, and Web site. NIST staff are working on the infrastructure for performance-based design of fire safety, and the group leader has been an energetic participant in the development of the International Code Council performance-based code that is due to be released as a draft document in 2000. Another project is assisting the FRA in understanding the fire hazards of passenger railcars. This work has allowed the FRA to transition to modern fire test and hazard analysis methods that provide the technical basis for implementing a performance-based approach to railcar fire safety and design. While NIST's work in this area is valuable, the efforts of this group do not seem to have been well integrated with related work going on in the Fire Dynamics and Materials Fire Research Groups.

Several of the projects in the Fire Safety Systems Group contribute to the fire safety aspects of the BFRL's major objective on Cybernetic Building Systems (CBS). Many new technologies for building systems control are emerging, and as these systems become more integrated and centrally controlled, they have the potential to become valuable tools in emergency situations by assisting the fire service in controlling the fire, evacuating occupants, and moving fire products throughout the building. However, without a standard, user-friendly interface to allow firefighters to connect easily and effectively to these systems, the new building control technologies will be ignored, shut down entirely, or misused. The Fire Safety Systems Group is focusing on developing an appropriate standard interface for the interactions between the systems and the fire service so that CBS can be useful for firefighters responding to an incident.

A past product of the Fire Safety Systems Group is CFAST, a zone model for predicting the environment in a multicompartment structure subjected to a user-specified fire. Development of this program took more than 15 years and required a major investment of BFRL resources. It is now the most widely used and best-validated model in the fire disciplines and is also an integral part of the CBS. The panel understands that NIST is considering phasing out support for this software program. It would be very concerned by such a move because there are indications the model will gradually degrade without the oversight provided by Fire Safety Division staff.

Overall, the panel found that the technical quality of the staff and the products of the work in the Fire Safety Engineering Division are very good. The Fire Dynamics Group is producing world-class results at this time, and the Large Fire Research and Fire Safety Systems Groups are certainly capable of producing world-class work and have done so in the past.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
Impact of Programs

The Fire Safety Engineering Division is contributing significantly to achieving BFRL goals and objectives and is directly improving the quality of tools and information available to the U.S. fire protection community. A major achievement of the division is the recent release of the FDS. Although it is too soon to assess the impact of this product, its release is an important milestone and indicates the maturation of this technology. The panel expects that over time this program will have as large an impact as the NIST zone modeling tools (e.g., CFAST).

In last year's report, the panel emphasized the division's need to open up more active communications with the fire-fighting community. Such communication would allow it to gather input and build a customer base for NIST's initiative to develop products that advance fire-fighting and fire protection technologies. The links between the division and the fire service community have been strengthened, but there is still room for improvement. The technical knowledge in the division could increase understanding of fire behavior and the limitations of firefighters' personal protective clothing, which in turn could improve the capacity of firefighters to enter and survive dangerous environments. NIST is also in a position to bolster the connection between fire safety engineering and the fire prevention function of the fire service; this connection is vital to the reduction of unnecessary losses.

One example of the broad variety of potential impacts of this division 's work on the fire-fighting community can be seen in the project on developing a standardized fire service interface for fire alarm systems. This project is focusing on technologies that will enable responding fire service personnel to identify and indicate the status of emergency response equipment or fire safety functions that might affect the safety of occupants. It is a very appropriate project for NIST since the concentration on developing, defining, and implementing standards cuts across the industry. The division is involving constituency groups at the start of the project to ensure that NIST's results can be implemented relatively quickly. The outcomes could have a profound effect not only on the design and specification of alarm panels but also on fire agencies' operational capacity to handle complex emergencies in high rises, massive shopping malls, and complex business and industrial occupancies. Any technology that provides firefighters with decision aids, especially those that increase their understanding of fire dynamics, improves the operational capacity of fire services.

In addition to its work on the BFRL major objectives, the Fire Safety Engineering Division has also made a measurable and positive contribution through work done in support of other government agencies. For the MMS and the USCG, it developed methods, equipment, and analysis tools to allow in situ burning of oil spills in a manner that limits the environmental damage from them while preventing the smoke from affecting the health and safety of people in nearby coastal regions. Other examples include (1) the methods for testing the improved firefighter turnout gear and consequent improvements in firefighter safety that resulted from a collaboration with the USFA and (2) the groundwork with the FRA that allowed new test methods and new materials for railcars to be phased in without compromising passenger safety. Finally, the division's relationship with ATF and the Justice Department has contributed to the continuing development of fire investigation methods based on scientific principles.

Division Resources

Funding sources for the Fire Safety Engineering Division are shown in Table 7.5. As of January 2000, staffing for the Fire Safety Engineering Division included 29 full-time permanent positions, of which 23 were for technical professionals. There were also three nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and part-time workers.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

TABLE 7.5 Sources of Funding for the Fire Safety Engineering Division (in millions of dollars), FY 1997 to FY 2000

Source of Funding

Fiscal Year

1997 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1998 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1999 (actual)

Fiscal Year

2000 (estimated)

NIST-STRS, excluding Competence

3.1

2.3

2.7

2.4

STRS, nonbase

0.0

0.4

0.4

0.3

Measurement Services (SRM production)

0.1

0.0

0.0

0.0

OA/NFG/CRADA

1.7

1.7

1.9

2.0

Other Reimbursable

0.1

0.1

0.0

0.0

Total

5.0

4.5

5.0

4.7

Full-time permanent staff (total)a

35

28

28

29

NOTE: Sources of funding are as described in the note accompanying Table 7.1.

a The number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.

The financial resources allocated to the Fire Safety Engineering Division appear to be inadequate. Currently, more than 40 percent of the division's budget is provided by other government agencies. While this division has traditionally provided important support to these outside agencies, lately the pressure to bring in more external funding has had a negative impact on the division's internal activities and on staff morale. Too large a portion of senior staff members ' time is devoted to looking for outside funding for the division. This time and effort is being taken away from work on internal laboratory programs and is completely inappropriate. The BFRL should be supporting the needs of other agencies, but the division should not have to use internal resources to arrange these projects. The pressures and inherent instability of the current situation are resulting in poor morale and low productivity and are threatening fulfillment of the division's mission. While most of the burden related to obtaining outside funding is falling on senior personnel, the panel observed that even the junior staff are becoming preoccupied with concerns over the division's situation.

Historically, the level of external funding in the area of fire safety engineering has always been high. However, declining internal resources allocated to the Fire Safety Engineering Division and the increased difficulty in finding projects from other agencies have resulted in a mismatch between division staffing levels and the amount of financial support available. This situation has led to RIFs being planned for the summer of 2000. Unless increased and assured internal funding can be obtained, it will be necessary for the division to reconfigure itself to conform with new financial realities; constantly decreasing NIST funds cannot be compensated for with ever-increasing efforts to secure outside resources. To ensure that staff have a stable and productive work environment, the division must limit itself to accepting projects in which outside agencies are making long-term commitments to the division. Short-term needs that arise should be met through the division's grants and contracting programs. While some level of effort is always necessary to secure external support for division activities, the time spent chasing these funds must be reduced dramatically.

Progress continues on the renovation of the Large Fire Research Facility in Building 205; the contract for the emission control system was awarded in June of 1999 and the facility should be back in service by January 2001. NIST's commitment of $7.2 million to construction costs for this project indicates that the institute is aware of the importance of this test facility to the BFRL. Restoring the

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

division's ability to perform fire tests at a real-life scale will be a major step to increasing the laboratory's ability to achieve its mission and objectives.

Fire Science Division
Division Mission

According to division documentation, the mission of the Fire Science Division is to perform research on and develop scientific and engineering understanding of fire phenomena and metrology for fire research.

The mission of the Fire Science Division is pursued through integrated programs in support of the BFRL objectives in order to meet science and engineering needs related to fire safety. The diversity of the laboratory's major products and the variety of skills needed to tackle the technical questions in building and fire research necessitate interdivisional collaboration. Most of the research in the Fire Science Division is therefore conducted in a collaborative mode, and the division has been very successful and effective using this approach. Three BFRL objectives are supported by this division's work: Fire Safe Materials (FSM), Cybernetic Building Systems (CBS), and Advanced Fire Measurements and Fire Fighting Technologies (AFM/FFT).

Technical Merit and Appropriateness of Work

The fire research effort at NIST is internationally renowned for many outstanding scientific contributions over the years. The combination of expertise in both basic science and engineering provides results of great value to industry. The work is clearly integrated and focused on fire safety for materials, products, facilities, infrastructure, and people.

In the Materials Fire Research Group, high-quality efforts are under way on fire-safe materials, including experimental and theoretical studies on understanding flame-retardant mechanisms and reducing the flammability of commodity polymers. Industry is very interested in NIST's work in this area, as illustrated by the formation of the Nanocomposite Industrial Consortium and the active participation in it of many companies. The consortium includes a CRADA focused on flammability of automobile materials. The group also conducts some NASA-sponsored work on flame behavior in microgravity; the panel was not clear how this fits into any of the BFRL major objectives.

In the Advanced Fire Measurements Group, the focus is on instruments and techniques for characterizing fires and their effluents at full and reduced scales. Based on input from fire researchers in BFRL and external organizations, staff are working on approaches that allow scientists to determine the accuracy and uncertainty of the results of real-scale fire measurements. Projects in support of this goal include the nearly complete work on thermocouples and smoke meters. The effort using calorimeters to characterize the heat release rates of burning furniture materials is also in this category. In general, the output of work in this area is procedures for estimating measurement uncertainty in fire tests; these data can then be used to establish realistic standards.

In the Fire Sensing and Extinguishment Group, staff are using multielement, multifunction sensors in a new fire emulator/detector evaluator (FE/DE). Part of the BFRL's work on CBS, this product is designed to evaluate how fire detectors respond to fire and nonfire stimuli. Industry needs to be able to assess the performance of the complex new sensing technologies for monitoring and predicting changing environments in buildings. The FE/DE system could facilitate the introduction of multielement (smart) fire detectors. In addition to this instrumentation work, the group is also performing cutting-edge research on fire-suppressing replacements for Halon and on the flame inhibition properties of iron compounds.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
Impact of Programs

Overall, work in the Fire Science Division has had an impressive impact on a variety of customers. The division has built a strong awareness of NIST capabilities in the industrial and scientific communities through a variety of outreach and dissemination efforts; during the past year, staff were responsible for 23 archival journal articles and book chapters, 39 papers and presentations at conferences, and 14 NIST reports. However, the panel continues to be concerned that proprietary grants and contracts are limiting the division's ability to fully communicate the value and results of NIST programs. Future outreach opportunities might include the formation of more industry consortia. Companies might be responsive to the notion that the establishment of code, standards, and measurement methodologies could result in product differentiation and increase the competitiveness of U.S. industry. The Fire Science Division's technical expertise in standards and metrology can support industry's efforts in this direction.

Division Resources

Funding sources for the Fire Science Division are shown in Table 7.6. As of January 2000, staffing for the Fire Science Division included 28 full-time permanent positions, of which 25 were for technical professionals. There were also seven nonpermanent and supplemental personnel, such as postdoctoral research associates and part-time workers.

The personnel in the Fire Science Division are quite capable, and the expertise available is appropriate for the research agenda of this division. However, persistent resource shortfalls are forcing the division to overrely on OA funding. The increasing number of projects in which goals are set externally tends to defocus the programmatic scope of the division; decreased coherency now will make it harder for the division to have a timely impact on industry needs in the future. In fiscal year 2000, the division is expected to bring in roughly 40 percent of its budget from external sources, but as of January 2000, 44 percent of this money had not been secured. This “insolvency” is localized in the Materials Fire Research Group, and preparations have been made for a summer RIF. The planned loss of four people from this group can be expected to dramatically impede productivity and dissemination of results in a group that has been conducting important research with the potential for significant impact.

TABLE 7.6 Sources of Funding for the Fire Science Division (in millions of dollars), FY 1997 to FY 2000

Source of Funding

Fiscal Year

1997 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1998 (actual)

Fiscal Year

1999 (actual)

Fiscal Year

2000 (estimated)

NIST-STRS, excluding Competence

2.6

1.9

2.5

2.0

Competence

0.2

0.2

0.2

0.0

STRS, nonbase

0.0

0.2

0.2

0.2

ATP

0.1

0.1

0.1

0.2

OA/NFG/CRADA

1.9

2.0

1.7

1.5

Total

4.8

4.4

4.7

3.9

Full-time permanent staff (total)a

31

28

28

28

NOTE: Sources of funding are as described in the note accompanying Table 7.1.

a The number of full-time permanent staff is as of January of that fiscal year.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

Overall, the panel is very concerned about the laboratory's dependence on outside funding. Within the fire divisions, at least 40 percent of the budget is expected to be raised from external sources. The responsibility for securing this funding appears to fall on staff at the group level, and shortfalls are dealt with by project and staff reductions at the same level. When groups, and even divisions, are small, it is difficult to absorb fluctuations in external support while also maintaining a stable work environment with consistent project goals and levels of output. The balance between external and internal funding and the distribution of resources to groups in need is an issue for BFRL-level management, who must create a collection of projects and personnel that can fulfill the BFRL mission and objectives.

Office of Applied Economics and Standards and Codes Services
Mission

According to laboratory documentation, the mission of the Office of Applied Economics (OAE) is to provide economic products and services through research and consulting to industry and government agencies in support of productivity enhancement, economic growth, and international competitiveness, with a focus on improving the life-cycle quality and economy of constructed facilities. The mission of the Standards and Codes Services (SCS) work is to increase opportunities for innovation, enhance competitiveness, and support the attainment of the goals of the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) and the Healthy Homes Initiative (HHI) by developing performance standards, conducting research, and partnering with the housing industry.

These missions are consistent with the BFRL and NIST missions. OAE staff execute their mission by working collaboratively with technical personnel throughout BFRL and all of NIST. In SCS, the PSSH program leader coordinates the activities of principal investigators within the BFRL divisions and integrates their projects into a coherent program in support of the PSSH goals. The OAE is involved with 7 of the 10 major laboratory objectives, and the SCS staff take primary responsibility for BFRL's PSSH objective, so these units are clearly an integral part of the BFRL, and their efforts are key to achieving the laboratory mission. Their work on the development of performance-based standards is often an important step toward the adoption of innovative materials and technologies developed in the divisions.

Technical Merit and Appropriateness of Work

The primary function of the OAE is enhancing the utility of other BFRL efforts. This added value is provided by OAE staff, who help shape, support, guide, and assess the value of activities in BFRL and at NIST to ensure that the projects are oriented appropriately and that the results are delivered in ways that can be readily accepted and used by industry and other government agencies. The quality of OAE's work is evidenced by the fact that the services of its staff are widely sought after by the BFRL divisions, NIST, and other government agencies.

The programs administered by the SCS unit are defined via interactions and cooperative efforts with other government agencies and industry representatives. The net result is a portfolio of research and standards development projects that are individually focused on specific technical and marketplace issues. For example, in the Building Materials Division, research on rapid weathering techniques will lead to a better understanding of how to predict the service life performance of materials such as coatings, roofing, and sealants. The results will allow industry to perform more accurate tests in less time on proposed new technologies, thus generating better products and getting them to market faster.

A major accomplishment of BFRL is the Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

(BEES) software package. With this program, a designer, builder, or researcher can analyze a number of building products and determine which is best for inclusion in a particular project. BEES permits the analysis of a product based on economic performance and on environmental considerations, such as personal and ecological health, ozone, and smog. The second generation of BEES software is under review and will be released in 2000. This latest update will more than double the number of products available for analysis. In preparation for future updates, work is scheduled to begin shortly on a residential version of BEES.

Impact of Programs

NIST results are disseminated widely by a variety of mechanisms, including computer software, training programs, publications, and presentations at meetings. For example, OAE staff train personnel at the Department of Energy in the computation of life-cycle costs. The training has recently been supplemented with NIST-developed user-friendly software. The mission of NIST is to provide services that enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. economy, and the OAE helps many branches of NIST to package their results and tools in user-friendly packages that will ease the integration of measurements and standards into the business and construction worlds. In addition to assisting with dissemination, OAE also is involved in measuring the effects of NIST activities; a recent study cataloged the regional economic impacts of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

Use of the World Wide Web is increasing. One Web site under development will allow Windows versions of OAE and SCS programs to be downloaded, making it much easier to distribute updates and new systems. In addition, as the laboratory posts more Web pages containing up-to-date information on BFRL activities, the site can serve as a reference for people familiar with the laboratory and as an introduction to the OAE-SCS programs for those new to NIST. The overall effort to make BFRL products and programs more user friendly and accessible is laudable; however, laboratory management must always consider how much of the implementation process is NIST's responsibility. Once technical results or new tools have been accepted by at least part of the industrial or government community, how much effort should NIST devote to ensuring further acceptance and how long should it be responsible for supporting the programs?

Work done in the BFRL is of interest to the entire construction industry, including designers, builders, cities, and code enforcement personnel. NIST personnel have taken their products to forums being hosted or attended by key organizations from relevant industries, but they should also take the products to forums being attended by the mass membership of the organizations (the end users). For example, the residential version of BEES should be aggressively promoted at national trade shows such as the National Association of Home Builders' International Builders Show. This trade event is attended by as many as 75,000 people, many of whom have the potential to benefit from BEES. Other government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, already attend such shows, and NIST should become a regular participant. Other laboratory products from the PSSH objective lend themselves to mass-marketing efforts. For example, the Structures Division is now testing various structural connections that have the potential to improve wood construction (and, later, a variety of nontraditional construction systems). This work will have a significant impact on how well certain structural connections for roof panels and vertical shear panels withstand severe wind uplift and horizontal loads. In the Building Environment Division, products that enhance indoor air quality in enclosed and conditioned spaces are being tested in conjunction with the Carrier Corporation and ASHRAE. Both projects should be of interest to practicing members in all sectors of the building industry.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
Resources

Funding for the OAE totals $2.3 million, of which $1.6 million is from external sources. As of January 2000, staffing included 11 full-time permanent positions, of which 10 were for technical professionals. Funding for the SCS totals $3.7 million, of which $2.9 million is from external sources. One technical professional is assigned to SCS, but he works with 15 principal investigators spread throughout BFRL.

Both OAE and SCS are funded mainly by outside sources. Because the goal of OAE is to facilitate implementation of BFRL results and to provide services to other groups both within and outside NIST, the high level of external support seems to be appropriate. In SCS, most of the funds come from HUD to support work across BFRL on the HUD initiatives PATH and HHI. The laboratory has become in part a research arm of HUD, and the panel believes that this relationship is appropriate and that the two agencies have formed a desirable partnership.

OAE staff are economists and operations analysts who are versed in the latest economic and analytic tools, including statistical techniques, optimization and analytic decision-making methods, and simulation routines. They have the training and interest to immerse themselves deeply in understanding the technologies being explored at NIST and the potential opportunities for and limitations of their implementation by government and industry. The interdisciplinary capabilities of the OAE staff are unique, and OAE expertise is very useful for product and result dissemination and for valuing the outcomes of cost-saving initiatives on the local and regional economy.

The latest computational equipment and software appear to be widely available to the OAE staff. However, there does seem to be some problem with overcrowding. Many of the professional staff are sharing offices, and since prolonged telephone conversations are often an integral part of their work, this situation may be interfering with a staff productivity. The panel also notes that the number of projects per staff member (10 technical professionals are handling 22 major activities) may be an issue. If the OAE is overcommitted, perhaps staff could be added; however, given the very special talents needed to combine economic and technical work as done in the OAE, caution should be exercised when hiring new personnel and integrating them into its unique culture.

The fact that only one person is assigned to SCS is a concern for the panel. While specific projects may be adequately staffed within BFRL divisions, the coordinating and integrating efforts all rest on SCS. Currently, work on this program is supported by three contract organizations, and the panel acknowledges that these outside relationships are beneficial. Not only is required technical support provided, but the input from these external organizations also helps keep program activities relevant to industry's needs.

MAJOR OBSERVATIONS

The panel presents the following major observations:

  • The quality of the technical work under way in BFRL and the impact of laboratory programs continue to impress the panel. The laboratory is a unique resource for the very fragmented building-related industries, and the positive impact on the competitiveness of U.S. companies and on public safety and quality of life should not be undervalued.

  • The increasing pressure on BFRL staff to secure external funding is hurting morale in the laboratory and has the potential to adversely affect the quality and appropriateness of the work done at NIST. The panel believes that the percentage of the BFRL budget that comes from outside sources

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×

should be decreased. The focus should be on projects in which the goals are consistent with the BFRL and NIST missions and other agencies are willing to make significant and long-term commitments to BFRL. It is also important to ensure that when external funds are provided for projects in BFRL, the resources allotted are sufficient to cover the time and effort of NIST staff.

  • The BFRL's relationship with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the potential formalization of its relationship with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and its involvement in consortia such as FIATECH are all highly encouraged by the panel. These activities raise BFRL's profile in the building and fire industrial communities and bring in additional, stable, long-term external funding for laboratory programs supportive of BFRL's mission.

  • The major objectives of the laboratory are appropriate and could have a significant impact on industry. However, the process by which decisions about goals and projects are made could be communicated more clearly to the technical staff by management. It is important to maintain a balance between projects with short- and long-term payoffs.

Suggested Citation:"Building and Fire Research Laboratory." National Research Council. 2000. An Assessment of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurement and Standards Laboratories: Fiscal Year 2000. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9979.
×
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