U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Administration

1. Fire, Wind, and Earthquake Disaster Reduction ResearchDavid D. EvansFire Research DivisionBuilding and Fire Research Laboratory Forum on Risk Management and Assessment of Natural Hazards February 5-6, 2001 Washington, DC U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Administration

2. National Institute of Standards and Technology Measurements Deployment R&D Technology Standards Quality NIST, a non-regulatory Federal agency, works with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards. Building and Fire Research Lab. The source of the measurement and prediction toolsused to transform the building and fire safety communities. Helping America Measure Up U.S. Department of Commerce Technology Administration

3. NIST Measurement and Standards Laboratories • Enhance US industrial competitiveness and economic growth through critically-needed standards, measurements, and data • Highly leveraged measurement and research capabilities supporting trillions of dollars in products and services

4. Fire, Wind, and Earthquake Engineering TECHNICAL APPROACH DISASTER MITIGATION: Enable the development and adoption of performance-based standards for new construction and retrofit of existing construction. NIST PRODUCTS Measurement, evaluation, and performance prediction technologies enabling cost-effective improvements in practice to increase the disaster-resistance of new and existing construction DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY: Develop and disseminate nondestructive evaluation methods for condition assessment and quality control.

5. NIST’s Legislative Mandates Fire Research Center established at NIST To perform and support research on all aspects of fire with the aim of providing scientific and technical knowledge applicable to the prevention and control of fires. • Research to understand the fundamental processes underlying all aspects of fire. • Research into factors affecting human victims of fire and the performance of individual members of the fire services. • Operation tests, demonstration projects, and fire investigations in support of the research. [Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974] Goal B: Improve techniques to reduce seismic vulnerability of facilities and systems Goal A: Accelerate implementation of earthquake loss-reduction practices and policies. Budget: NIST represents 2% of NEHRP program Role in NEHRP

6. Urban-Wildland Fire • Site Specific Fire Model • Include building fire effects in urban-wildland fire spread models. • Quantifying the value of mitigation measures • Means to study strategies for protection and fire fighting with limited resources. 1993 Laguna Fire Newsweek 1 0 1

7. In Situ Burning -- Oil Spills ALOFTA LargeOutdoorFirePlume Trajectory Software • Downwind prediction of fire plume trajectory and concentrations • Terrain and structures modeled • Based on NIST measurements over 10 orders of magnitude • Used for state guidelines and approvals for intentional burning • Field use with portable PC’s

8. Next Generation Standards for Wind Loads Objective • Enable the development and use of next generation wind load standards by U.S. industry to achieve safer, more cost-effective, and efficient design of structures Challenge • Develop advanced computational models based on state-of-the-art aerodynamic measurements and extreme value statistics to predict time- and direction-dependent wind effects associated with performance limit states, including structural collapse. Impacts Milestones • Estimated loss reduction of about $1 billion/year based on 5-10% reduction each in wind-induced structural losses and in structural material costs • NIST Tech Note on Fujita Tornado Scale (3Q98) • Concept paper Int. J. Wind Engrg. & Ind. Aerodyn. (4Q98) • ASCE 7-98 changed to allow electronic standards (4Q99) • CE article Tornado Aftermath: Questioning Tools (1Q99) • Paper on wind directionality effects (4Q99) • Paper on extreme effects uncertainties (2Q00) • Paper on collapse-induced by wind fluctuations (4Q00) • Pilot project demonstration of electronic standards (4Q01) • Complete electronic standard for public release (4Q02) Research Team • Leader: Emil Simiu • Collaborators: Cornell University, Texas Tech University, Lehigh University, CECO Building Systems.

9. Precast Concrete Moment Frames • Impacts: • Enables use of precast concrete construction in high • seismic regions • Savings of $5-$10 /sq.ft. in construction costs over • conventional steel and CIP concrete structure (Fortune • Magazine, Sept. 8, 1997) • Used in four construction projects; selected for a 39-story (420 ft.) $128 million apartment building in San Francisco. • Accomplishments: • ACI provisional standard under development • Acceptance Criteria for Moment Frames Based on • Structural Testing - Published Spring 1999 • Precast Post-Tensioned Moment Frames – Draft • incorporating TAC comments, March 1999 • Product approval from the International Conference of • Building Officials (ICBO), 1995 • Finalist - CERF Award for Innovation, 1996 • ACI Structural Research Award, 1997 • Leader:H. S. Lew, William C. Stone, Geraldine S. Cheok • Team: • American Concrete Institute (ACI) • Charles Pankow Builders, Ltd., CA • University of Washington • Englekirk and Nakaki, CA

10. STRUCTURAL FIRE ENDURANCE ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS AND STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS WIND LOADS AND RESISTANCE INNOVATIVE CONNECTIONS AND FASTENERS EARTHQUAKE LOADS AND RESISTANCE Structural Performance of Housing Systems Objective • Enable construction cost reduction and increased disaster resistance of housing systems by U.S. industry through design and innovation. Challenge • Develop a validated 3-dimensional model of housing systems to predict and evaluate structural performance. • Measure and predict failure mechanisms of typical systems and assist the development of high performance systems. Impacts Milestones • Severe damage or destruction was suffered by nearly 10,000 homes during Oklahoma tornado; 49,000 during hurricane Andrew; 75,000 in Northridge earthquake. • Losses to residential construction represented 72% of the $15.3B in insured losses for the Northridge earthquake. • State-of-the-art report and research plan (4Q98) • Develop 3-D models for shear walls, floors, and roof (3Q99) • Measure roof truss-to-wall connection performance (4Q00) • Measure wall-to-wall connection performance (3Q01) • Measure wall-to-foundation connection performance (2Q02) • Develop/validate 3-D model of housing systems (1Q03) • Establish performance of typical systems through model simulation (4Q03) • Establish performance of innovative systems through model simulation(3Q04) Research Team • Leaders: John Gross, Fahim Sadek, and Michael A. Riley • Collaborators: NAHB RC, IBHS, North Carolina State University, CUREe (University of California, San Diego), CSIRO (Australia).