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<h1 class="nist-page__title">NISTs Investigations of Structural Disasters: What We Do and Why They Can Take Years to Complete</h1>
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<div class="daterange"><time datetime="2022-03-23T12:00:00Z">March 23, 2022</time>
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<span>By: </span>
<a href="/blogs/taking-measure/authors/tanya-brown-giammanco" hreflang="en">Tanya Brown-Giammanco</a>
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<div data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2021/08/25/NIST%20team%20July2.jpg?itok=yOfmggt7" data-media-id="620916">
<img alt="A person in a hard hat surrounded by debris including a crushed car takes a picture of a concrete block with a phone." height="2160" loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/images/2021/08/25/NIST%20team%20July2.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="4096">
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<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">In this July 2, 2021, photo, a NIST staff member tags and photographs a building element that has been identified for preservation as evidence in the staging area near the site of the Champlain Towers South building collapse.<div class="nist-image__credit">
<span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span>
NIST
</div></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>My Background in Disasters</h2><p>It seems as though I was born to be a disaster researcher. I can vividly remember seeking shelter during tornado warnings in the basement at friends or relatives houses, or in the church at the end of our street as a young child living in Wichita, Kansas. When I was 9 years old, my family moved to Hawaii when my stepdad, an Army officer, was stationed there. While we lived there, my dads house back in Oklahoma was destroyed by a tornado (he was able to get to an underground shelter in time), and Hawaii was walloped by <a href="https://www.weather.gov/media/publications/assessments/iniki1.pdf">Hurricane Iniki</a> (which was my first hurricane experience, and the first major hurricane to make landfall there since Hurricane Dot in 1959). After we left Hawaii, my stepdad was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where we experienced all the hurricanes of the late 1990s: <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL022020_Bertha.pdf">Bertha</a>, <a href="https://www.weather.gov/media/publications/assessments/franrpt.pdf">Fran</a>, <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL021998_Bonnie.pdf">Bonnie</a> (the beginning of the <a href="https://www.depts.ttu.edu/ttuhrt/">Texas Tech University Hurricane Research Team</a>) and <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL081999_Floyd.pdf">Floyd</a>.</p><p>I was hooked on understanding weather and disasters and pursued an atmospheric science degree, but I quickly learned that day-to-day forecasting wasnt really for me — I cared more about how weather affected buildings, communities and people, unsurprising given all the destruction I had seen. After completing my bachelors degree, I received a masters degree in engineering (both at the University of Kansas), then pursued a Ph.D. in wind science and engineering at Texas Tech University. It was there that I began doing field work observing damage to buildings and communities, and the effects on people.&nbsp;</p>
<figure class=" align-right nist-image--lightbox nist-image" role="group">
<div data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2020/07/16/Photo%201.jpg?itok=Wk6RAcJ1" data-media-id="585416">
<img alt="NIST social scientist Erica Kuligowski (left) interviews a tornado survivor in Joplin, Missouri in 2011." height="360" loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/480_x_480_limit/public/images/2020/07/16/Photo%201.jpg?itok=PRwHNDFY" title="NIST social scientist Erica Kuligowski (left) interviews a tornado survivor in Joplin, Missouri in 2011." typeof="foaf:Image" width="480">
</div>
<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">NIST social scientist Erica Kuligowski (left) interviews a tornado survivor in Joplin, Missouri in 2011.<div class="nist-image__credit">
<span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span>
NIST
</div></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My first-ever damage assessment happened to be for the <a href="https://www.depts.ttu.edu/nwi/Pubs/ReportsJournals/ReportsJournals/D2007-02-02-Tor-SAW-Florida.pdf">2007 Central Florida tornadoes</a> where the <a href="https://www.depts.ttu.edu/nwi/Pubs/EnhancedFujitaScale/EFScale.pdf">Enhanced Fujita Scale</a> (or EF-Scale) was officially put to use for the first time. The EF-Scale was actually developed at Texas Tech following a <a href="https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/TN/nbstechnicalnote1426.pdf">recommendation by NIST</a> after the Jarrell, Texas, tornado in 1997. As part of the Texas Tech University Hurricane Research Team (TTUHRT), I also studied the severe weather conditions themselves, putting dozens of weather instruments out ahead of Hurricanes <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL042008_Dolly.pdf">Dolly</a>, <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL072008_Gustav.pdf">Gustav</a>, <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092008_Ike.pdf">Ike</a> and <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092011_Irene.pdf">Irene</a>, along with <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL112009_Ida.pdf">Tropical Storm Ida</a>, to collect rare and valuable data on wind, pressure and temperature throughout the storms, because other weather stations typically fail when the power goes out. I was part of a team that deployed those same instruments in front of supercell thunderstorms (see the 5:40 mark in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nycAcgWGyU">this video</a>) to sample data from tornadoes during the landmark Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 (<a href="https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/93/8/bams-d-11-00010.1.xml">VORTEX2</a>) project.</p><p>While still a student, I interned at the <a href="https://ibhs.org/">Insurance Institute for Business &amp; Home Safety</a> (IBHS), and after graduating, I spent nearly 11 years doing field and laboratory research there, studying how natural disasters affected buildings and finding ways to reduce damage. At IBHS, we <a href="https://ibhs.org/wind/residential-fortified-demonstrations/">blew full-size buildings to the ground</a> using wind data like I had collected with TTUHRT; <a href="https://ibhs.org/wildfire/building-vulnerability-to-ember-exposure/">ignited houses with flying embers</a>; published damage studies on the <a href="https://ibhs.org/wp-content/uploads/wpmembers/files/Mega-Fires-The-Case-for-Mitigation-Executive-Summary.pdf">2007 Witch Creek Wildfire</a>, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-15-0011.1">2011 Dallas-Fort Worth hailstorms</a>, 2017s <a href="https://ibhs.org/wp-content/uploads/wpmembers/files/Hurricane-Harvey-Wind-Damage-Investigation_IBHS.pdf">Hurricane Harvey</a>, and 2018s Hurricanes Florence and Michael; collected first-of-its-kind data on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-15-0081.1">hailstone characteristics</a>; and developed a new <a href="https://ibhs.org/ibhs-impact-resistance-test-protocol-for-asphalt-shingles/">test standard</a> using ice balls matching those hailstone characteristics to test roofing products.</p><p>While I was able to conduct some amazing research at IBHS, when an opportunity to join NIST as the director of the <a href="/disaster-failure-studies/about-disaster-failure-studies-program" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="789de543-48c0-4157-a662-8a2bfd3755ac" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="About the Disaster &amp; Failure Studies Program">Disaster and Failure Studies Program</a> came about, I jumped at it. NIST is the premier research institute that focuses on advocating for science-based provisions in codes and standards. Through its <a href="/disaster-failure-studies/studies-hazard-types" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="ad7253ba-9766-4285-ad01-871737c04029" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Studies by Hazard Types">long history of disaster research</a>, NIST has made a huge impact in improving disaster resiliency and safety of buildings — a perfect fit for my areas of interest. I came on b
<figure class=" align-center nist-image--lightbox nist-image" role="group">
<div data-lightbox="https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/styles/2800_x_2800_limit/public/images/2021/08/25/KAM_3717%28July6th%29.JPG?itok=vkA7ogZK" data-media-id="620896">
<img alt="Three people in hard hats and other safety gear bend over a broken concrete column marked with blue spray paint. " height="4480" loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/images/2021/08/25/KAM_3717%28July6th%29.JPG" typeof="foaf:Image" width="6720">
</div>
<figcaption class="nist-image__caption">In this July 6, 2021, photo, NIST engineering experts examine a concrete column from the Champlain Towers South condominium before it was taken from the collapse site for preservation.<div class="nist-image__credit">
<span class="nist-image__credit-label">Credit:</span>
NIST
</div></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For each investigation, we consider all possible failure hypotheses, sometimes dozens of them, and then gather data to support, or disprove, each hypothesis. The failure hypotheses help us prioritize any testing protocol developed in an investigation, characterize the condition of the building prior to the failure, and understand the possible role of the collected evidence in the failure. We typically use a combination of nondestructive and destructive testing and must quantify uncertainty in each step of the measurement and analysis process. In the case of the investigation of the Station Nightclub Fire — which killed 100 people in 2003 when pyrotechnics used by the performing band ignited a fire — the research team conducted <a href="https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=100988">dozens of tests</a> on polyurethane foam, ceiling tiles, wood paneling and carpet collected from what remained of the building to understand the contribution of each to the ignition and fire spread. In the Hurricane Maria investigation, scale models of critical buildings (such as hospitals) and their surrounding terrain have been <a class="media-link-ga " data-entity-substitution="canonical" data-entity-type="media" data-entity-uuid="8f34f331-c354-4565-a62d-5fa32783a5a4" data-file-url="/system/files/documents/2020/07/28/NCSTAC_June2020_CriticalBuildings.pdf" href="/document/ncst-technical-investigation-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-performance-critical-buildings" title="NCST Technical Investigation of Hurricane Maria (Puerto Rico) Performance of Critical Buildings Project">tested in a wind tunnel</a> to gather data on wind pressures and forces to link these measurements to the observed building damage.</p><p>Test data are then used as input in analytical and computational models, to realistically simulate the building failure. The models themselves are extremely complex, and our teams must ensure the building components and interactions are accurately represented. A <a href="/blogs/taking-measure/reconstructing-fires-brought-down-wtc-1-2-and-7" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="10472cd3-d32c-44a2-be79-5391465fd1ed" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Reconstructing the Fires That Brought Down WTC 1, 2 and 7">blog post by longtime NIST researcher Richard Gann</a> described how the WTC team created fire models for each floor of the twin towers, to understand how heat from the fires affected the steel, concrete and connections, and how the fires eventually caused the towers to collapse.</p><p>Failure models must also be validated, in other words, confirming that they perform as expected, and this typically requires complex laboratory tests. In the case of the Station Nightclub Fire investigation, the team went beyond testing the individual components mentioned above and built and tested a full-scale mock-up of the raised platform where bands performed at the nightclub, to understand how a fire could spread.</p><p>At the beginning of an investigation, anything is possible, and we keep an open mind and follow a rigorous, systematic scientific process that will ultimately prove the actual, technical cause of a failure; this often means taking the extra effort to prove that dozens of alternatives were not possible.&nbsp;</p><p>To establish the likely technical cause of failure, the investigative teams develop and thoroughly test hypotheses based on the evidence and data they collect. We also receive and consider many theories on failure mechanisms from other researchers, as well as from media stories and <a href="/disaster-failure-studies/data-submission-portal" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="d29e6c6b-073b-498e-9b6c-44e4bf593cef" data-entity-substitution="canonical" title="Data Submission Portal ">directly from the public</a>. I keep a special folder in my email inbox that helps me log and sort through these before they are sent to our subject matter experts. Often these external theories are ones our team has already considered. When a particular theory gains traction or popularity in the public, we
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<span class="nist-comment__author"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">David Pressler</span></span>
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<span class="nist-comment__date">March 23, 2022 3:57 PM</span>
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<div class="text-long"><p>Never in history has a METAL quonset hut been damaged by a wind event! Tornado proof quonset hut homes the future of homes</p>
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<span class="nist-comment__author"><span lang="" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="">Truth</span></span>
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<span class="nist-comment__date">July 22, 2022 1:06 PM</span>
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<span class="nist-comment__parent">| Replied to <a href="/comment/106891#comment-106891" class="permalink" rel="bookmark" hreflang="en">Never in history has a METAL…</a></span>
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<div class="text-long"><p>Not true. Quonset huts have been destroyed by tornado in the USA many times. I&#039;ve seen two instances myself. The tornado blows out the ends then takes the rest out. Monolithic domes however are EASY to make EF-5 proof. Same cost as a custom stick home too.</p>
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