Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship

I’ll be heading off to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) this summer in Gaithersburg, Maryland from May 25th to August 10th.

Why, what do they do there you ask?

Well, they have a Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL).

They perform test burns:

They design building information and communication systems for firefighters:

They performed an investigation of the World Trade Center disaster:

They burn things:

They research and test ballistics and soft body armor:

And more.

They also do computerized fire modeling using Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS):

This is where I come in.

I have been using FDS for about three years now through classes, undergraduate research, and as a hobby of computers, mathematics, and fire protection engineering. Now I will get to work with FDS at NIST firsthand with the FDS team.

NIST also used a linux cluster of 48 computers running FDS in parallel mode to assist with their WTC Case Investigation:

What is Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS)?

The Fire Dynamics Simulator is a computational fluid dynamics model of fire driven flows. It is used widely in the fire protection engineering community for a variety of applications including design, forensic reconstruction, and teaching. In the past three years, FDS and Smokeview played a significant role in both the World Trade Center and The Station nightclub investigations. In the WTC investigation, the model was used to predict the fire temperature and move-ment on the impact floors of both tow-ers, and these temperature predictions were then used by structural engineers to assess the weakening of the steel and the eventual collapse of the buildings. In the nightclub fire investigation, FDS/Smokeview was used to model the ignition and spread of a devastating fire in a small nightclub in Rhode Island. (From NIST BFRL website)

As far as the living arrangements, I will be staying nearby in a hotel/apartment suite with 3 roommates, so it will be great to work with other fire protection students from around the nation. Also, it is 44 degrees there right now, so quite a change.

So, I’ll be sure to post pictures and maybe videos and write about everything that I see and do during the summer. I’ll also be posting other mindful experiences and growths as they come, so stay tuned!

Fore more information on NIST and the BFRL:

http://bfrl.nist.gov/ (BFRL Main Website)
http://bfrl.nist.gov/Annual/2004-2005/BFRL06.pdf (BFRL 2006 Report)
http://www.fire.nist.gov/ (BFRL Fire on the Web)
http://www.fire.nist.gov/fds/ (FDS and Smokeview Website)
http://www.surf.nist.gov/surf2.htm (NIST SURF Website)