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Engineering Laboratory

The Engineering Laboratory promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology for engineered systems in ways that enhance economic security and improve quality of life.

Photograph of large residential-style home with blue tile roof and solar panel in suburban campus setting.
A House Ahead of its Time
Fire History
50 Years of Fire Safety Advances at NIST
Side view of a woman wearing safety glasses, ear protection, and a blue lab coat. With one hand, she is holding a stainless steel frying pan over an electric stove. With her other hand, she is using a spatula to prod bacon in the pan. The room is smoky.
New Smoke Alarms Are Better at Detecting Fires but Still Beep for Bacon

News and Updates

A newly built two-story home with an attached garage has solar panels on the roof.

A House Ahead of Its Time

A decade in, NIST’s superefficient house continues to generate results and advance building science.

Software

FDS and Smokeview

Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a form of the Navier

BEES

The BEES ( Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software brings to your fingertips a powerful technique for selecting cost-effective

CONTAM

CONTAM is a multizone indoor air quality and ventilation analysis computer program designed to help you determine: (a) airflows: infiltration, exfiltration, and
NIST STEP File Viewer screenshot

STEP File Analyzer and Viewer

The free STEP File Viewer supports parts, assemblies, dimensions, tolerances, and more. The Analyzer generates a spreadsheet of all entity and attribute

EVAP-COND, Version 5.0

EVAP-COND is a software package that contains NIST's simulation models EVAP and COND for finned-tube evaporators and condensers. The “tube-by-tube” scheme in

CFAST

CFAST (Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport) is a computer program that helps fire investigators, safety officials, engineers, architects, and

VCCTL Software

(Return to Cement Hydration and Degradation Modeling Software) The Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL) software provides a virtual testing
View All Software

Tools and Instruments

A

SPHERE

In the artificial ultraviolet (UV) weathering of materials, a need exists for weathering devices that can uniformly illuminate test specimens with a high level

Awards

Taking Measure Blog

Header shows a drawing of Wilhelm Weber, an electricity transmission tower, and a magnet, and reads: What's in a Name? The Stories Behind the Names of Units of Measurement.

What’s in a Name? The Magnetic Weber 

Dr. Wilhelm Weber gets the distinction of having the unit of magnetic flux, the weber, named in his honor. Magnetic flux measures the total magnetic field that

Popular Links

Products and Services

Contacts

  • Engineering Laboratory
    (301) 975-5900
    100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8600
    Gaithersburg, MD 20899