BFRL Program

Reduced Risk of Fire Spread in Buildings

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The lack of measurement science (including knowledge, standard test methods, methodologies to interpret the test results, and validated predictive methods) form a substantial technical barrier to the development and introduction of innovative fire protection involving materials, building design, and technology. The current gaps in understanding (including modeling capability, appropriate test methods, and methodologies) preclude the ability to demonstrate that proposed innovations are technically feasible, safe, and economically viable. Lack of a quantitative understanding of uncertainty and system performance hinders the development of rational safety factors in fire protection engineering analysis and design.

The objective of this program is to reduce the risk of fire spread in buildings through the development and implementation of measurement science. BFRL is developing and quantifying the accuracy of performance-based design tools and analysis, and creating the scientific basis for the next generation of standards, codes, and fire measurement techniques.

Performance-based design of buildings requires validated tools to justify equivalent safety when compared to prescriptive code requirements.  Without the necessary tools to develop and quantify the cost of possible design options, architects and engineers are constrained from realizing effective solutions. A performance-based option has been included in the National Fire Protection Association’s Life Safety Code, and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers has published engineering design guides to facilitate implementation and best practices in the use of performance-based fire protection techniques.

The program includes several major measurement science research thrusts, each with corresponding new technical ideas. The emphasis of the work is to ensure that scientific knowledge can be effectively disseminated to facilitate standards and code development and to enhance the capabilities and the scope of the predictive models, which are associated with all five thrust areas. The new technical ideas are described below for each of the major thrust areas:

Predictive Fire Model Development: Three areas are emphasized: algorithm development, verification and validation, and user support. The new idea is to improve and expand the predictive capability of current fire models using sub-models that better simulate critical physical and chemical processes in fires. New data generated on solid and gas-phase phenomena is guiding sub-model development and validation of material burning and soot emission. A Configuration Management Plan is being established that automates maintenance with full revision tracking documentation and coordinates software development within an established set of guidelines.

Advanced Fire Measurements: The new idea is to develop new measurement techniques that are well-characterized and accurate, that improve our understanding of fire physics, and facilitate innovation in fire protection. The area is also providing critical data to guide the development and enable validation of predictive models.  Research is focused on development of innovative measurement techniques (e.g., real-time extractive soot measurements), improvement of traditional measurement techniques (including heat release rate and bi-directional velocity probe), and using these techniques to improve our understanding of the structure of compartment fires. These results are being used to guide and validate the NIST Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software, a predictive fire model.

Fire Protection in Buildings: New theory is being developed and new data will be acquired to characterize performance in critical areas of fire protection in building systems.  The research includes the development of a decision support software tool for communities interested in cost-effective investment in water sprinklers, an egress model based on data taken during fire drill evacuations from select building types, and full-scale experiments that examine the effects of detector type, placement, and fuel source on the performance of smoke detectors.

Hydrogen Fire Safety: Research is being conducted to develop emerging technologies in detection and predictive methods to hydrogen safety.   Experiments are being used to assess the effectiveness of the Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) software for predicting the dispersion behavior of a buoyant gas and to identify necessary modifications to the model.   Hydrogen gas sensor performance is being tested in the BFRL Hydrogen Detector Environment Evaluator facility.

BFRL continues to work with industry, fire testing laboratories, national and international organizations that determine fire standards and codes, university researchers, other government agencies, and international fire researchers to reduce fire losses. This program is providing the knowledge and tools to reduce systemic fire losses as the recognized source of accurate measurement and prediction methods used in practice.

Component Projects:

• Underventilated Compartment Fire Measurements to Support FDS Development

• Predictive Model Development

• Predicting Material Decomposition in Fires

• Heat Release Rate Uncertainty in Large-Scale Fire Measurements

• Gas Velocity Measurement Techniques

• Safety of Building Occupants

• Fire Performance of Load-Bearing Wall Elements

• Smoke Alarm Performance Standards

• Performance Metrics for Portable Fire Extinguishers in Fast Growing Nightclub Fires

• Sprinkler Decision Tool for Communities

• Hydrogen Flammability, Detection, and Fire Safety

• Large Fire Laboratory Operations

Contact:
Anthony Hamins
(301) 975-6598
anthony.hamins@nist.gov

 

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