National Science Foundation Awards Research Funding to Advance Performance-Based Fire Design for Cold-Formed Steel Structures
A research project progressing from the American Iron and Steel Institute’s (AISI) Small Project/Fellowship Program has received significant funding through the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance performance-based fire design for cold-formed steel (CFS) structures. Thomas Gernay, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), was named a recipient of the NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award for nearly $580,000 over five years. The award will enable research to develop an advanced science-based framework for assessing the fire performance of cold-formed steel structures that results in more accurate modeling to ensure increased public safety, resource efficiency and resilience. The NSF award will run from July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2028.
The NSF funding will allow Dr. Gernay to build on research initiated through a 2021 AISI Small Project/Fellowship Program award for “Structural Design for Fire Conditions of a Prototype Metal Building Using the New Proposed Appendix to AISI S100, North American Specification for the Design of Cold-Formed Steel Structural Members.” AISI’s Small Project/Fellowship Program identifies and provides funding for research projects that will significantly impact the reliability, performance and cost-competitiveness of cold-formed steel in construction. The research is conducted by teams comprised of students, faculty advisors and steel industry advisors.