BFRL ICON Fire Resistance Determination and Performance Prediction Research Needs Workshop: Proceedings. February 19-20, 2002. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD.

pdf icon Fire Resistance Determination and Performance Prediction Research Needs Workshop: Proceedings. February 19-20, 2002. National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD. (25020 K)
Grosshandler, W. L.

NISTIR 6890; 128 p. September 2002.

Fire Resistance Determination and Performance Prediction Research Needs Workshop: Proceedings. February 19-20, 2002, Gaithersburg, MD, Grosshandler, W. L., Editor(s), 2002.

Available from:

: National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.
Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000;
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Order number: PB2003-100577

Keywords:

fire research; fire resistance; building performance; structural fires; flameproofing; fire resistant materials; fire tests; simulation; building research

Abstract:

EACH PAPER IS TREATED LIKE A SEPARATE DOCUMENT AND MAY BE VIEWED AND/OR DOWNLOADED THAT WAY The National Institute of Standards and Technology's Building and Fire Research Laboratory, as the national laboratory responsible for research into building fires, initiated a program prior to the events of September 11 to put structural fire protection on a stronger scientific footing. The first phase of this program focused on addressing the poor performance of high strength concrete (HSC) in fire, which was not yet reflected in any design codes. The catastrophic collapses of the World Trade Center underscored the need not only to accelerate but also to broaden this effort to include fire safety design of steel construction. A workshop calling upon scientific and engineering experts in materials, fire protection, and structural design was held February 19 and 20, 2002, at NIST to identify the research required to underpin meaningful test and predictive methods for use in evaluating the performance of structures subject to real fires. The specific objectives of the workshop were to review current practices for achieving fire resistance; to explore the promise of fire dynamics simulations and structural behavior predictions at elevated temperatures; to identify new fire resistance options coming from materials science; to identify opportunities and needs in advanced computational methods; and to identify applications and needs for emerging measurement, instrumentation and test methods. Commercial, academic and government experts provided background and suggestions on how best to achieve the objectives, from the perspective of the discipline they represented. This information is summarized in these Proceedings. Key recommendations include the following: (*) to develop new experimental methods for measuring high temperature thermal and mechanical properties of structural and insulating materials; (*) to develop experimental facilities and capabilities for measuring the behavior of real-scale connections and assemblies under controlled fires that permit extrapolation to total building frame behavior up to the point of failure; (*) to improve the physics and speed of sophisticated numerical models, and to expand the use and acceptance of proven, simpler computational design tools; (*) to establish as a goal the need to predict the performance of coupled building systems in elevated temperatures to the point of impending failure; (*) to develop a strategy to effectively incorporate technological advances in structural fire resistance into engineering tools that support performance-based design alternatives; (*) to train and improve communications between the architecture and engineering professions; and (*) to appreciate the needs of, and better train, building code officials and regulators.

Selected Papers




Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899