January 11, 2002—The Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL), a division under The National Institute of Standards and Testing, has begun testing “High Performance Building Materials” to enable the reliable application of high-performance concrete (HPC) in buildings and the civil infrastructure. HPC refers to any concrete that has desirable performance attributes that cannot be met routinely with traditional materials and traditional processing. Examples are more durable, stronger, tougher, and more-easily-placed concrete.
BFRL is developing methods for (1) determining rheological properties and curing conditions, (2) characterizing composition and uniformity, (3) simulating transport and cement hydration chemistry and molecular ion-solid interactions, (4) predicting the effects of fire on high strength HPC, (5) gaining acceptance of the modified compression field theory for treatment of shear in HPC, and (6) calculating its life-cycle cost. The results of all program elements are being incorporated into a prototype interoperable distributed computer-integrated knowledge system, HYPERCON.
The second focus of High Performance Building Materials is to develop scientific methods for measuring and predicting the service life of polymeric building materials. Accurate and accelerated methods for predicting the service life is an enabling technology to significantly reduce the time to market for new products.
For more information, contact the Building Materials Division at 301/975-6706 or by email.
