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Building
Safety
WTC Investigation
Off to Solid Start, NIST Reports
At
a Dec. 9, 2002, press briefing, officials at the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported solid progress in the
first three months of the agency’s federal building and fire
safety investigation into the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster of
Sept. 11, 2001. A report detailing the project’s status is available
at http://wtc.nist.gov.
During
the briefing, NIST Director Arden Bement Jr. urged the public and
the media to help the investigation team acquire more photographs
and videotapes that could help to better document the initial damage
and subsequent fire growth in the WTC towers (WTC 1 and 2) and WTC
7. The team is especially interested in WTC 7 and views from the south
and west faces of the towers. Anyone wishing to provide NIST with
documents, photos or other materials should follow the instructions
at http://wtc.nist.gov/media/provide_info.htm.
Other
points discussed at the WTC press briefing:
-
NIST has asked for—and has already received—considerable
cooperation and large volumes of information from agencies and organizations
representing the WTC building designers, owners, leaseholders, suppliers,
contractors and insurers;
-
NIST is moving ahead with its systematic collection of first-hand
information from survivors, families of victims and first responders;
and
-
NIST Director Bement soon will appoint a federal advisory committee
to advise him in carrying out the responsibilities of the National
Construction
Safety
Team Act, the law that establishes NIST as the lead agency to investigate
building failures.
For
the latest news, background information and visuals about the
WTC investigation, go to http://wtc.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Michael
E. Newman, (301) 975-3025
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Colorimetry
New
NIST Color Reference More Than a Shade Improved
 |
| NIST
researcher Maria Nadal places a blue tile in new reference instrument
used for high accuracy, automated measurements of industrial
color standards. |
A
new reference instrument for measuring the surface color of materials
with high accuracy has been developed by the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) Optical Technology Division,
which plans to offer a calibration service for 0 degrees/45 degrees
industrial color standards starting in January 2003. Because color
often plays a major role in the acceptability of a product, this
service is designed to meet a demand for improved measurements and
standards to enhance the color matching of products.
The
new reference colorimeter measures with the best possible accuracy
a non-fluorescent sample’s spectral reflectance properties,
from which color quantities are calculated. The instrument design
can perform measurements at all possible combinations of illumination
and viewing angles, which is important for accurate image rendering.
In addition, the standard 0 degrees/45 degrees geometry (illumination
at 0 degrees and viewing at 45 degrees) is highly automated through
the use of a sample wheel with a capacity of 20 samples.
The
new calibration service will be NIST’s first for color measurement
in many years, a response to needs articulated in recent reports
of the Council for Optical Radiation Measurements. This new service
complements ongoing services in reflectance, transmittance, and
specular gloss. Industrial customers are expected to send samples
(typically colored tiles) to NIST for measurement, and then use
these samples as standards to calibrate their own instruments. Users
then typically convert a spectral reflectance measurement into the
color coordinate system used by that particular industry.
For
more information, contact Maria Nadal, (301) 975-4632, maria.nadal@nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Laura
Ost, (301) 975-4034
Construction
What’s the
Buzz? Expanded BEES Software Helps Builders Go Green
An
updated, expanded version (3.0) of the popular BEES (Building for
Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software, designed by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to help the
construction industry select cost-effective, environmentally friendly
products, is now available free-of-charge at www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html.
BEES uses the
life-cycle assessment approach specified in the ISO 14040 series of
environmental management standards to measure the environmental performance
of almost 200 building products. All stages of the life of a product
are considered—from raw material acquisition to manufacture,
transportation, installation and use, and, ultimately, to recycling
and waste management. BEES measures economic performance using the
ASTM International E 917 life-cycle cost standard. Unlike version
2.0, BEES 3.0 evaluates not only generic products (including wall
finishes, wall and roof sheathing, insulation, and roof and floor
coverings) but also evaluates about 80 brand-specific products provided
by manufacturers participating in the BEES Please program. (Go to
www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees/please/bees_please.html).
Developed by NIST’s
Building and Fire Research Laboratory, BEES is supported in part by
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmentally Preferable
Purchasing Program. BEES 3.0 runs on Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT and
XP personal computers with a 486 or higher microprocessor, 32 megabytes
or more of RAM, and at least 110 megabytes of available disk space.
A printer driver must be installed.
A free BEES 3.0
compact disc and manual are available from the EPA Pollution Prevention
Information Clearinghouse, (202) 566-0799, ppic@epamail.epa.gov.
Electronics
NIST
Method Helps Find Water in Industrial Phosphine Gas
As
manufacturers of semiconductor devices—especially lasers used
in the telecommunications industry and light-emitting diodes for displays
and lighting—seek to improve their products through the use of
higher-purity gases, more sensitive methods for measuring extremely
small amounts of water are needed. Undetected low levels of water
often contribute to a device failing or not working as originally
designed.
Using
cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), a high-sensitivity method based
on optical absorption, researchers from the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) Optoelectronics Division recently
demonstrated the ability to measure extremely small concentrations
of water as an impurity in phosphine gas. This is the first time that
CRDS has been used for this purpose in a highly toxic gas.
The
CRDS technique uses a laser tuned to a specified wavelength and measures
the time it takes its light to be absorbed by a container of phosphine
gas. In part because the laser light makes more than 100,000 passes
through the container for a single measurement, the water-detection
sensitivity of the NIST technique is comparable to the best research
results from other methods and has the potential to be much higher.
The
developers of the CRDS water-detection method believe it will be attractive
to industrial users because it requires only limited instrument preparation
and no calibration. Moreover, the NIST technique tests phosphine gas
as it flows during an industrial process, the production of semiconductor
crystals (such as those used in lasers). This combination allows NIST
researchers to measure how much water contamination can be tolerated
by the process.
The
development of the CRDS water-detection method is being done in collaboration
with NIST’s Process Measurements Division.
For more information, contact Kris Bertness, (303) 497-5069, bertness@boulder.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Fred
McGehan Boulder, (303) 497-7000
NIST Study
Shows Industries Taking a Big STEP to Savings
A number
of US industries already are saving millions of dollars a year,
and could save a total of more than $900 million annually, by using
a suite of international standards that reduce interoperability
problems encountered in the exchange of digital product information,
states a new report from the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST).
The
report assessed the economic impact of the STandard for Exchange
of Product model data (STEP, formally known as ISO 10303),
which provides a neutral format that enables the exchange of data
between proprietary systems. Some parts of STEP already are international
standards, and other parts are still in development. The new report,
conducted for NIST by RTI International (Research Triangle Park,
N.C.) and Altarum (Ann Arbor, Mich.), also evaluated NIST’s
contributions to the development, testing and implementation of
STEP.
Data
from industry surveys and case studies were used to estimate that,
within the industries studied, full implementation of STEP could
save $928 million (in 2001 dollars) per year. More than half of
the projected savings would be realized in the automotive industry—which
has been a leader in STEP development—with the remainder going
to the aerospace, shipbuilding, and the tool and die industries.
Many
other industries worldwide could achieve similar savings. To date,
STEP has been partially implemented, with approximately 17 percent
($156 million per year) of the potential benefits realized in the
industries studied. Much of the savings is due to the avoidance
of labor costs associated with the use and support of redundant
software applications.
The
study found that NIST’s administrative and technical activities
accelerated the development and adoption of STEP, yielding a net
present value economic impact of $180 million (in 2001 dollars)
and a benefit-to-cost ratio of almost 8 to 1. These figures reflect
only part of NIST’s contributions, which also enhanced the
quality and reduced the costs of STEP development and deployment.
A
printed copy of the study, Economic Impact Assessment of the
International Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data (STEP)
in Transportation Equipment Industries, may be obtained by contacting
Denise Herbert at (301) 975-2667, denise.herbert@nist.gov.
The report also is available online at www.nist.gov/director/prog-ofc/report02-5.pdf.
NIST Offers
a Non-traditional UWB Antenna Measurement Facility
Traditional
ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna characterization and measurement
facilities, such as anechoic chambers, are expensive to build
and operate. To overcome this obstacle, researchers in the National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Radio Frequency Technology
Division have designed and implemented an approach for acquiring
such measurements without an anechoic chamber.
The
new NIST antenna measurement facility is a 7.3-meter by 7.3-meter
(24-foot by 24-foot) ground-plane with a plus or minus 0.1 flatness
specification. A 4-meter (13-foot) tall cone is used to generate
a precisely characterized field. The cone and ground planer are
located in a high-bay room with a 5-meter (17-foot) ceiling and
concrete walls. The facility is capable of generating standard
fields down to approximately 20 megahertz. To enhance performance
of the facility, broadband pulsed and swept-frequency sources,
along with time-gating techniques, have enabled mathematical removal
of room reflections and other unwanted effects.
Tests
conducted by NIST researchers produced measurements that are comparable
to those obtained from computer models. Encouraged by these results,
the researchers will perform additional tests including far-field
extrapolation measurements and compare them with computer
models.
For
a copy of paper 32-02 detailing the new facility, contact Sarabeth
Harris, MS104, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80305-3328; (303) 497-3237;
sarabeth@boulder.nist.gov.
For technical information on this development, contact David Novotny,
MS813, NIST, Boulder, Colo. 80305-3328; (303) 497-3168; novotny@boulder.nist.gov.
Editor: Michael E. Newman
Date created: 12/17/2002
Contact: inquiries@nist.gov
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