U.S. Department ofCommerceTechnology Administration

Fire, Wind, and Earthquake Disaster Reduction Research

David D. EvansFire Research Division

Building and Fire Research Laboratory

Forum on Risk Management and Assessment of Natural HazardsFebruary 5-6, 2001Washington, DC

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 tools used to transform the building and fire safety communities.

Helping America Measure Up U.S. Department of

CommerceTechnology Administration

Technology

Deployment

R&D

Measurements

Standards Quality

National Institute of Standards and Technology

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

Fire, Wind, and Earthquake Engineering

NIST PRODUCTSMeasurement, evaluation, and performance prediction technologies enabling cost-effective improvements in practice to increase the disaster-resistance of new and existing construction

TECHNICAL APPROACHDISASTER MITIGATION: Enable the development and adoption of performance-based standards for new construction and retrofit of existing construction.

DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY: Develop and disseminate nondestructive evaluation methods for condition assessment and quality control.

NIST’s Legislative Mandates

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

Fire Research Center established at NISTTo 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]

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.

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1993 Laguna Fire

ALOFTA Large Outdoor Fire Plume

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

In Situ Burning -- Oil Spills

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.

Milestones

Research Team• Leader: Emil Simiu• Collaborators: Cornell University, Texas Tech

University, Lehigh University, CECO Building Systems.

Impacts• 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)

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

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.

Milestones

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).

Impacts• 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)

WIND LOADS AND RESISTANCE

ALTERNATIVE MATERIALSAND STRUCTURAL SYSTEMS

INNOVATIVE CONNECTIONSAND FASTENERS

EARTHQUAKE LOADS AND RESISTANCE

STRUCTURAL FIRE ENDURANCE