(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- Buildings in the U.S. are generally designed to withstand the usual suspects: rain, wind, snow, and the occasional earthquake. Abnormal events, such as gas explosions, vehicle impacts, or uncontrolled building fires, aren’t typically a consideration. If vulnerable buildings face any of these unanticipated events, the results could be tragic. But now, a new building standard can help engineers prevent the worst.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has released the ASCE/SEI 76-23—“Standard for Mitigation of Disproportionate Collapse Potential in Buildings and Other Structures,” the first national building standard of its kind. Developed over the course of a decade and informed by research led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the standard provides design requirements and guidance to keep small, isolated failures in a structure from propagating and bringing down the entire building or a major part of it—a phenomenon the standard defines as disproportionate collapse. 

 …