NIST WTC recommendations spur new model building codes

Safer buildings - especially tall structures - that are more resistant to fire and more easily evacuated in emergencies are the goal of the first comprehensive set of building code changes recently approved by the International Code Council (ICC), based on recommendations from the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The recommendations were the result of the findings of NIST’s three-year investigation of the collapses of New York City’s World Trade Center (WTC) towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

The changes will be incorporated into the 2007 supplement to the ICC’s International Building Code (IBC), a model code used as the basis for building regulations promulgated and enforced by US state and local jurisdictions. Those jurisdictions have the option of incorporating some or all of the code’s provisions but generally adopt most provisions.

The model code changes address such areas as the fire resistance of structural components, the use of sprayed fire-resistive materials, elevators for use by first responders, the number of stairwells, and exit path markings.

Two more model code changes will be considered for the next edition of the IBC in 2009. In the first case, a broad industry coalition is developing a proposal that would recommend structures be designed to mitigate disproportionate progressive collapse and ensure, for the first time, minimum structural integrity and robustness requirements for structures as complete systems. The second proposed code change would require the use of a nationally accepted standard for conducting wind tunnel tests routinely used for determining wind loads in the design of tall buildings. During its investigation of the collapses of the WTC towers, NIST found that wind load estimates from three separate wind tunnel tests on WTC models differed greatly.

http://wtc.nist.gov

•Date: 22nd June 2007 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC and Facilities
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