Building and Fire Research Laboratory
Fire Research Division
The speed of a flame is measured as increasing amounts of super- effective suppressant are added during the search for possible halon replacements. The Fire Research Division develops, verifies, and utilizes measurements and predictive methods to quantify the behavior of fire and the means to reduce the impact of fire on people, property, and the environment. This work involves integration of laboratory measurements, verified methods of prediction, and large-scale fire experiments to demonstrate the use and value of the research products. Focused research activities develop scientific and engineering understanding of fire phenomena and metrology; identify principles and produce metrology, data, and predictive methods for the formation/evolution of smoke components in flames and for the burning of polymeric materials; and develop predictive methods to enable high-performance fire detection and suppression systems. Through the Division’s programs in measurement, prediction, systems integration, and the dynamics of fire and its interactions with the built and natural environment, the division provides leadership for advancing the theory and practice of fire safety engineering, fire fighting, fire investigation, fire testing, fire data management, and intentional burning. Extensive publication and technology transfer efforts facilitate the use of fire research results in practice in the fire communities in the United States. Participation in the codes and standards processes helps to reduce barriers to trade and global markets for U.S. goods and services.
William L. Grosshandler, Chief
(301) 975-2310
william.grosshandler@nist.govResearch Programs
Most of the Division's research is carried out within four main Programs under two main Goals. These programs benefit from collaborations with other BFRL divisions, divisions in other NIST laboratories, industry sponsors, and other government agencies. The Division sponsors an Extramural Grants Program, as well, to promote academic research in these areas. The programs and their objectives are:
Employment Opportunities
- Applications are solicited for openings that are anticipated in 2008 for BS, MS and PhD engineers, mathematicians, and scientists. [View Full Advertisement] 8/31/07
- The Fire Research Division has postdoctoral positions available for Ph.D. engineers, mathematicians, and physical scientists in a dynamic and growing research environment. [View Full Advertisement] 11/27/2007 More information on the NIST Postdoctoral Program available here: http://www.nist.gov/oiaa/postdoc.htm.
Division Organization
Fire Fighting Technology Group
The Fire Fighting Technology group enables advances in fire fighter safety, fire ground operations, and effectiveness of the fire service; develops and applies technology, measurements and standards, and improves the understanding of the behavior, prevention and control of fires to enhance fire fighting operations and equipment, fire suppression, fire investigations, and disaster response.
Nelson Bryner, Leader
(301) 975-6868
email: nelson.bryner@nist.govFire Metrology Group
The uncertainty in thermocouple temperature measurements, an essential part of all meaningful fire tests, are quantified here under actual conditions. The Fire Metrology Group applies measurement science in the development a nd quantification of new and existing methods for studying fire growth, fire induced flows, flame radiation, smoke formation and dynamics, species production, heat transfer, and fire suppression. It conducts long term basic research to develop new measurement paradigms and responds to short term challenges to address needs identified by other groups within the division. The group serves as division resource for quantification of measurement uncertainty, development of calibration standards, and best practices documents. The group also manages the NIST Large Fire Facility where advanced field scale diagnostics, real time data output, and quantified measurements are employed to validate models for fire growth, smoke dynamics, and suppression.
Jiann Yang, Leader
(301) 975-6662
email: jiann.yang@nist.govAnalysis and Prediction Group
The Analysis and Prediction Group develops understanding and predictive methods of dynamic fire phenomena to advance fire science and engineering practice, reduce fire hazards, and improve fire protection and fire fighting. It performs research to enhance the understanding of the physics of fires to improve predictions of the growth, spread, suppression, and emissions from fires of all scales, and it uses experiments, analysis, metrology, and advanced computer simulations to improve predictions of fire phenomena.
Anthony Hamins, Leader
(301) 975-6598
email: anthony.hamins@nist.govIntegrated Performance Assessment Group
The Integrated Performance Assessment Group produces quantitative tools useful to a broad base of stakeholders in the building and fire safety communities, including: architects and design engineers; manufacturers of building materials, products and furnishings; code developers, enforcers, and regulating authorities; and stakeholders exposed to direct risk such as building owners, occupants, the general public and the fire service. The group utilizes enhanced data and predictions to quantify fire events for fire hazard and risk assessment; for fire fighter operations, training and fire investigations; and performance evaluation of fire protection systems in buildings, transportation systems, and vehicles in response to fire. The group works with customers to build fire safety decision models making use of advancements in metrology, simulation, and materials; and manages the flow of research data and information to the fire safety community.
Thomas Cleary, Leader
(301) 975-6858
email: tclear@nist.gov
Materials and Products Group
Polypropylene specimen undergoing gasification in absence of O2 leads to greater understanding of polymer flammability. The Materials and Products Group performs research to understand fundamentally the mechanisms that control the ignition, flame spread, and burning rate of materials and the chemical and physical characteristics that affect these aspects of flammability. It develops methods of measuring and predicting the response of a material to a fire, which includes characterizing the burning rates of charring and non-charring polymers and composites, delineating and modeling the enthalpy and mass transfer mechanisms of materials combustion, and developing computational molecular dynamics and other mechanistic approaches to understand the relationships between polymer structure and flammability.
Jeffrey Gilman, Leader
(301) 975-6573
email: jwgilman@nist.gov
Highlights:
- Fire on the Web - Fire on the Web is a collection of resources from the Building and Fire Research Laboratory's Fire Research Division at NIST. These Web pages provide links to fire related software, experimental fire data and mpeg/quick time movies of fire tests that can be downloaded and/or viewed with a Web browser.
- NIST Combinatorial Methods Center Focused Project:
High Throughput Flammability Test Methods for Compositionally Graded Samples
The Fire Research Division at NIST has allocated over $650K of internal funding for 2002 for High Throughput flammability research. Membership in this Focused Project on High Throughput Flammability Test Methods affords members an excellent opportunity to leverage their R&D funds for the purpose of gaining information, knowledge and skills in the high throughput field. This is also an opportunity for the members to help set the direction for the development of these new R&D tools.Home Smoke Alarm Tests - The purpose of the project is to determine if different types of fire alarms can respond to threatening residential fire settings in order to permit egress of typical groups of occupants. The ability of the alarm devices to avoid nuisance alarms will also be evaluated.
Contact: Richard Bukowski, richard.bukowski@nist.gov- Forum for International Cooperation on Fire Research
Contact: William Grosshandler, william.grosshandler@nist.gov- CIB WI4: Fire
The present emphasis of CIB W14: Fire is on fire safety engineering needed for performance based fire codes or regulations. To meet our objectives, we have initiated several projects with specified goals. We meet annually, arrange workshops or co-sponsor symposia and conferences. The work of W14 is a voluntary activity: our achievements depend on the efforts of our members. The current membership of W14 is about 75 from 30 different countries around the world and it is growing.
Contact: Richard Bukowski, richard.bukowski@nist.govStaff
- Fire Fighting Technology Group
- Fire Metrology Group
- Analysis and Prediction Group
- Integrated Performance Assessment Group
- Materials and Products Group
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Last updated: 1/18/2008