Structural Fire Experimental Capabilities at the NIST National Fire Research Laboratory

The NIST National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL) is a unique facility used to conduct real scale fire measurements. In 2015, the NFRL was expanded to enable research on the response of real-scale structural systems to realistic fire and mechanical loading under controlled laboratory conditions. The scientific objectives of the expanded NFRL are to develop an experimental database on the performance of materials, components, connections, assemblies, and systems under fire load. This data can be used by the international research community to validate and verify physics-based predictive models. The lab features two high bay test areas, a 18 m × 27 m strong floor with 1218 anchor points, a 9 m × 18 m strong wall with 420 anchor points, a hydraulic loading system, four large exhaust hoods instrumented for fire calorimetry, an emission control system for scrubbing acid gases and particles generated by real fuels, controlled gas and liquid fuel burners, water suppression systems, overhead cranes and conditioning space. The laboratory expansion was designed to accommodate experiments on real-scale structural systems and components up to two stories in height and 2 bays × 3 bays in plan. Through application of controlled loads, true service conditions can be simulated, and structures can be exposed to controlled and realistic fire conditions that grow, spread and decay with heat release rates as large as 20 MW. Measurement capabilities have been developed to characterize the response of structural systems and components up to failure and to characterize the fire heat release rate and thermal environment in real time. A detailed description of the laboratory is presented with an emphasis on measurement capabilities.