Testing and Analysis of Structural Systems with Enhanced Robustness
This grant funds research to improve the ability of US building structures to resist collapse from extreme loads or localized damage, using experiments and computer models.
This grant is no longer accepting proposals
NRC Research Associateship Programs has archived this opportunity.
Funder: NRC Research Associateship Programs
Due Dates: February 1, 2025 | August 1, 2025
Funding Amounts: $82,764 stipend plus $3,000 travel allowance; typical appointment duration 2 years.
Summary: Supports postdoctoral research to improve robustness of U.S. building structural systems against extreme loads and localized damage through experimental and computational methods.
Key Information: Open to U.S. citizens with a doctoral degree earned within the last 5 years; applications require prior contact with a Research Adviser; NIST participates only in February and August review cycles.
Description
This fellowship opportunity at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) focuses on advancing the robustness of structural systems used in U.S. building construction. Robust structural systems are designed to withstand extreme loads and localized damage—such as the failure of a column—without causing disproportionate or widespread collapse.
Research areas include:
- Experimental investigation of new steel and reinforced concrete connections that enhance robustness against column loss.
- Development of experimentally validated reduced-order computational models to analyze entire structural systems.
- Extension of experimental findings to fatigue loading regimes relevant to earthquakes (low-cycle fatigue) and synoptic windstorms (high-cycle fatigue).
The research aims to improve safety and resilience of gravity and moment frame structures under extreme events like earthquakes and windstorms.
