Structure Separation Experiments

A major contribution to the severity and devastating outcomes of many wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires stems from the continuation of fire spread from the wildlands to deeper within the built community due to structure-to-structure fire spread. In the case of most destructive WUI fires, this fire spread is also enhanced by high winds and structures burning unmitigated by suppression actions.

The focus of the structure separation experiments is to investigate the relationship between the burning of one structure (i.e., source) and the exposure to a neighboring residential structure (i.e., target), and to identify safe structure separation distances. The goal of these experiments is to improve the understanding of the exposures produced by burning structures, characterize the burning behavior of these common structure types, and to provide a dataset that is compatible with the advancement of computer fire modeling tools. Ultimately, the findings are intended to provide scientific basis for recommendations and best practices for building code, spacing, and zoning requirements in communities at risk of WUI fires.

• NISSE:  NIST Indoor Structure Separation Experiments
• NISSE:  NIST Outdoor Structure Separation Experiments
• EaVEs: NIST Eaves and Indoor Structure Separation Experiments

VIDEOS

NIST WUI FIRE DAYS 2023 presentation "NOSSE: NIST Outdoor Structure Separation Experiments."  View slides, watch recording

NIST WUI FIRE DAYS 2022 presentations:  Structure Separation Experiments (SSE) Phase 1
2.0  SSE Phase 1 Overview
2.1  NIST Indoor Experiments
2.2  Update on NIST Outdoor Experiments (included in 2.1)
2.3  IBHS Outdoor No Wind Experiments
2.4  Update on IBHS Cold-Flow Measurements (included in 2.3)
2.5  SSE Modeling
2.6  SSE Phase 1 Summary

PUBLICATIONS

Maranghides, A., et al. (2021) Structure Separation Experiments Phase 1 Preliminary Test Plan. 
NIST Technical Note 2161. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2161

Maranghides, A., et al. (2022) Structure Separation Experiments: Shed Burns without Wind.
NIST Technical Note 2235. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2235

Maranghides, A., et al. (2022) NIST Outdoor Structure Separation Experiments (NOSSE): Preliminary Test Plan. 
NIST Technical Note 2199. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2199

Maranghides, A., et al. (2023) NIST Outdoor Structure Separation Experiments (NOSSE) with Wind. 
NIST Technical Note 2253. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2253

Brown, C., et al. (2024) NIST Eave and Vent Experiments (EaVE) EaVEs Phase A: Test Plan.
NIST Technical Note 2288. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2288

PREVIOUS RELATED WORK

Maranghides, A., Johnsson, E. (2008) Residential Structure Separation Fire Experiments.
NIST Technical Note 1600. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.1600