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Article: NIST test fans the flames for high-rise fire safety.(ISSUES AND EVENTS)(National Institute of Standards and Technology)
- Article from:
- Engineered Systems
- Article date:
- January 1, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 BNP Media. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The blow-torch-like flames erupting from the windows of an abandoned, 16-story Chicago apartment building in mid-November were certainly dramatic to watch from the street below. However, for a team of investigators from the Chicago Fire Department (CFD), the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the real excitement was what was happening to the environment inside the building's corridors and stairwells.
The controlled fires on the third, 10th, and 15th floors of the Windy City high-rise were part of a real-world laboratory experiment to study the effectiveness in multistory buildings of positive pressure ...