Post by Ah manPost by t***@gmail.comPost by Ah manPost by t***@gmail.comPost by MidexPost by Al DykesPost by f***@gmail.comPost by s***@gmail.comIn this article we show that "top-down" controlled demolition
accurately accounts for the collapse times of the World Trade Center
towers.
So what? =A0A collapsing building falls at 9.8 meters/second^2, whatever
causes it to collapse.
The towers collapsed because the fire weakened the steel framing,
causing the top floors to buckle. =A0Once the collapse started, it
overwhelmed the support structure below it.
-jcr
What I find interesting in the forensic engineering sense is that the
tower that was hit last fell first.
Aside from the different angles of entry, which could affect the time
to failure, the tower hit 2nd was also hit much lower, meaning there
was about twice the stresses on it.
The second tower was hit much lower and so had much more weight above
the floors that were weakened by fire and impact damage.
Thats correct Al Dykes. And then the unsupported floors above decided
to fall directly down into the greatest resistance rather than toppled
over the edge.
How exactly would flat slab floors have "toppled over the edge", eh
retard?
Post by MidexTell me, when you let go of a standing bicycle, does it collapse into
itself? Hey fuckwit moron? Or does it fall over side-ways?
It falls over sideways because 1) it's still structurally intact, and
2) the ground it underneath it, fuckwit
(1) None of the floors below the floors that are said to have failed
were structurally compromised by fire or anything.
Other than the small issue of the building above them collapsing on
them
You're welcome to build a lego set tower and break it half way and
then lift the top half a foot above the bottom half and drop it back
down. (remember that the top of the towers were not lifted)
See what happens Chris Textor, Arts-degree Jew boy. Did the top half
topple over the side?
Now go and do it 1000 times again like a good little elementary school
kid in General Science class on static physics.
Post by t***@gmail.comPost by Ah man(2)You are welcome to put the bicycle on top of metal rubbish bin.
LOL. That would prove there is a bicycle on top of a rubbish bin, and
exactly nothing else, retard.
According to Arts-degree Chris Textor or the overwhelming consensus of
relevantly qualified engineers and architects?
Still waiting for you to find me even 20 architects and engineers who
support NIST's Magic Fire explanation.
See below for a long list of published papers about WTC. The authors
all agree that there is no man-made explosives needed to explain the
collapse of any of the buildings at WTC.
Architects rarely have any structural engineering expertise and none
of them do for the purposes of designing one of the largest buildings
in the world. The engineering work gets contracted out to people with
P.E. in their qualifications.
How many P.Es. are there in AE911? Zero?
If there is one, what does he say? I suspect it has nothing to do
with structural engineering.
-------------------------------
A list of engineering papers that explain aspects of the collapse of
WTC1, 2, and 7 caused by fire.. Most are linked via this web page:
http://wtc7lies.googlepages.com/home
TITLE: How The Loss of One Column May Have Led To The Collapse of WTC7
http://www.structuremag.org/Archives/2007-11/SF-WTC7-Gilsanz-Nov07.pdf
The Fall of WTC 7 Dark Fire By MANUEL GARCIA, Jr
http://www.counterpunch.org/darkfire11282006.html
Practical Means for Energy-Based Analyses of Disproportionate Collapse
Potential. By: Dusenberry, Donald O.; Hamburger, Ronald O.. Journal of
Performance of Constructed Facilities, Nov2006, Vol. 20 Issue 4,
p336-348, 13p, 2 charts, 14 diagrams, 5 graphs
Stability of the World Trade Center Twin Towers Structural Frame in
Multiple Floor Fires. By: Usmani, A. S.. Journal of Engineering
Mechanics, Jun2005, Vol. 131 Issue 6, p654-657, 4p
World Trade Center Collapse-Civil Engineering Considerations. By:
Monahan, Bernard. Practice Periodical on Structural Design &
Construction, Aug2002, Vol. 7 Issue 3, p134, 2p
Building Code Changes Reflect World Trade Center Investigation. By:
Hansen, Brett. Civil Engineering (08857024), Sep2007, Vol. 77 Issue 9,
p22-25, 3p;
Progressive Collapse of Structures: Annotated Bibliography and
Comparison of Codes and Standards. By: Mohamed, Osama A.. Journal of
Performance of Constructed Facilities, Nov2006, Vol. 20 Issue 4,
p418-425, 8p
I have about 30 more if you need to do an ounce of real research.
Sorry, I didn't list any from journals limited to CTists and are not
allowed to be peer-reviewed by outside experts. I just stick to
established professional journals and true peer-review.
http://www.civil.northwestern.edu/people/bazant/PDFs/Papers/405.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20011031095744/http://www.tam.uiuc.edu/news/200109wtc/
http://web.archive.org/web/20011031095744/http://www.tam.uiuc.edu/news/200109wtc/
The ASCE Pentagon Building Performance Report (PDF)
NIST Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About the WTC 1&2 Collapses - August, 2006
New - NIST Answers to Frequently Asked Questions - Supplement - December, 2007
NIST Final Reports on WTC 1 & 2
NIST NCSTAR 1: Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster: Final Report of the National Construction Safety Team on the Collapses of the World Trade Center Towers
NCSTAR 1-1 Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Structural and Life Safety Systems
NCSTAR 1-2 Baseline Structural Performance and Aircraft Impact Damage Analysis of the WTC Towers
NCSTAR 1-3 Mechanical and Metallurgical Analysis of Structural Steel
NCSTAR 1-4 Active Fire Protection Systems
NCSTAR 1-5 Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers
NCSTAR 1-6 Structural Fire Response and Probable Collapse Sequence of the World Trade Center Towers
NCSTAR 1-7 Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communication
NCSTAR 1-8 The Emergency Response Operations
Investigations leading to alternate tower collapse hypotheses, and
critiques of NIST's WTC investigation by knowledgeable people who are
not conspiracy theorists: FEMA/ASCE, Arup Fire, University of
Edinburgh, Usmani, Torero, Lane, Cherepanov, Quintiere, Corbett,
Mackey, Greening
Peer-reviewed papers and conference papers about the WTC impacts, fires, and collapses
WTC collapse papers with Zdenek Bazant as lead author
May, 2007: Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers: What caused it and what didn't Co-authors Le, Greening & Benson. Refutation of controlled demolition theory. Discusses matching of video record with progressive collapse equations, "free-fall" claims, concrete crushing (and how much TNT equivalent would be needed to do that crushing), air pressure & ejection of air, spread of dust cloud.
June, 2006: Mechanics of Progressive Collapse: Learning from World Trade Center and Building Demolitions Co-author Verdure. PDF.
Excerpt (applies to link above and below): The kinetic energy of the top part of the tower impacting the floor below was found to be about 8.4x larger than the plastic energy absorption capability of the underlying story, and considerably higher than that if fracturing were taken into account (Bazant and Zhou 2002a). This fact, along with the fact that during the progressive collapse of underlying stories the loss of gravitational potential per story is much greater than the energy dissipated per story, was sufficient for Bazant and Zhou (2002a) to conclude, purely on energy grounds, that the tower was doomed once the top part of the tower dropped through the height of one story (or even 0.5 m).
Bazant & Zhou, 2001-2002: Why Did the World Trade Center Collapse?-Simple Analysis
Other explanations of the tower collapses
November, 2007: Structural Engineer Keith Seffen'smathematical model of WTC tower progressive collapse (PDF. Due to appear in the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol. 134, No. 2, February 2008)
BBC News article about Seffen's paper
Dr. Frank Greening's papers on the Collapses, Energy Transfer, "Tipping," Concrete Pulverization (PDFs)
Physicist Manuel Garcia's Counterpunch articles on the physics of the WTC collapses Pt.1- Pt.2- Pt.3
Why didn't the towers, or the upper portions of them, topple over?
Why didn't the upper part pivot about it's base? See Bazant & Zhou (2001) Appendix II
Eduardo Kausel (MIT): Why the Towers didn't fall like trees
Frank Greening: An analysis of the tipping of the upper section of WTC 2 (PDF)
A simple graphic explanation of why the top of the south tower didn't fall to the side.
Physicist Dave Rogers on tipping of tower tops.
Structural engineer "Newton's Bit" on "tipping"
Explanations of NIST's Investigation Methods
See also: Investigations leading to alternate collapse hypotheses.
NIST's Investigation of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center Disaster: FAQ (2002: Goals & Methods)
Ryan Mackey on how the NIST investigation works, and on "Scholars" critics
Ryan Mackey on NIST's degree of certainty, bounding cases, comparisons to other studies
Ryan Mackey on NIST altering model inputs
Ryan Mackey on NIST recovered steel and fire models
JREF Ktesibios on NIST workstation actual tests
JREF RWGuinn on testing models to failure
Ryan Mackey on NIST fuel load estimates
Physicist Dave Rogers on scaling issues with physical models of large structures
NIST's Recommendations, and the Architectural and Engineering Community's Response
NIST summary of WTC 1 & 2 investigation results & recommendations (PDF)
The AIA's Response to NIST's Draft Report and Recommendations (PDF)
The World Trade Center Collapse and its Implications for International Standards - W. Gene Corley ISO Focus, January 2004 (PDF)
"Reexamining Premises for High-Rise Design" Security Management magazine (PDF)
In this article from Security Management magazine, Dr. Gene Corley discusses lessons from the World Trade Center investigation and how they might affect future building design.
NIBS Building Code Experts: Translating WTC Recommendations into Model Building Codes
First Comprehensive Set of Model Code Changes Adopted Based on Recommendations from Commerce's NIST World Trade Center Investigation (June, 2007)
Twin Towers' Structural Engineers on the Record
Excellent New Yorker Profile of WTC chief engineer Leslie Robertson, early speculation about collapses, many quotes from engineers, info about skyscraper design
Leslie Robertson on WTC steel core
No Tower Can Withstand Attack As Jets Get Bigger, Expert Says (Les Robertson $ NYT March 14, 2002)
"Reflections on the World Trade Center" (Robertson. PDF)
Jon Magnusson of Skilling Ward, helped design towers: "Engineers couldn't have known"
Gene Corley on FEMA/ASCE investigation lessons
"What We Learned: Building Performance Study of the WTC Collapse" (PDF) Outlines preliminary lessons learned in the FEMA/ASCE investigation of the NY World Trade Center collapse.
"Corley, ASCE Take Part in House Hearing" (PDF) On March 6, CTLGroup senior vice president Dr. Gene Corley testified before the Committee on Science of the U.S. House of Representatives. Dr. Corley was one of several members of the ASCE structural investigation team who were asked to discuss the performance of the World Trade Center in the September 11th attacks, and its implications for future building design. An article on the hearing from ASCE News.
"Looking Back on 9/11" (PDF) In this interview, Dr. Gene Corley discusses engineers' roles in the World Trade Center Building Performance Study
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl's WTC collapse investigations
Tower Wreckage Reveals Clues - Astaneh - Jersey City Scrap Yards (later, some of these conclusions proved wrong)
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl WTC Collapse, Field Investigations, and Analysis (Dec. 2003)
Now, as the five-year anniversary of the World Trade Center attack draws near, Astaneh-Asl finally expects to have the results of his analysis published in an academic journal. The project, requiring thousands of hours to complete, was self-funded and conducted by Astaneh-Asl, his students, and analysts from the MSC.Software Corporation, which donated the structural analysis software (MD Nastran and Dytran). Did the Building Do it? (Astaneh Study)
Testimony of Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl Before the House Committee on Science, March, 2002
Investigations involving extensive computer modeling of the towers
April, 2007: Purdue University analysis of WTC 1 collapse using LS-Dyna**More on the Purdue WTC study
"Did the Building Do It?" (Article about Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl/Cal FEA study, Sept, 2006)
Now, as the five-year anniversary of the World Trade Center attack draws near, Astaneh-Asl finally expects to have the results of his analysis published in an academic journal. The project, requiring thousands of hours to complete, was self-funded and conducted by Astaneh-Asl, his students, and analysts from the MSC.Software Corporation, which donated the structural analysis software (MD Nastran and Dytran).
NIST's SAP reference models of WTC 1&2, obtained through FOIA request
LU Xinzheng & JIANG Jianjing Simulation for the Collapse of WTC after Aeroplane Impact. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Protection of Structures Against Hazards, Nov. 2002. 57~60
Weidlinger Report Ties WTC Collapses to Column Failures (Matthys Levy). 10/25/02
The engineering team is comprised of: Weidlinger Associates Inc., led by Matthys Levy and Najib Abboud; LZA Technology/Thornton-Tomasetti Group, led by Daniel Cuoco and Gary Panariello; ARUPFire, led by Richard Custer; Hughes Associates Inc., led by Craig Beyler; SafirRosetti, led by Howard Safir; Hillman Environmental Group, led by Christopher Hillmann and John B. Glass Jr.; RWDI, led by Peter Irwin; Dr. W. Gene Corley, who led the ASCE-FEMA study; Professor Sean Ahearn; and Z-Axis Corp., led by Gary Freed and Alan Treibitz.
Weidlinger Study - Column failures
Weidlinger study refutes FEMA. Collapse inevitable due to structural damage and fires, not to WTC design defects. (NYT Oct 22, 2002)
First Tower to Fall Was hit at Higher Speed, Study Finds (NYT February 23, 2002)
Silverstein Sending Tower Data to U.S. Agency (NIST/Weidlinger/Insurance Agencies NYT Oct 1, 2002)
Even though the exterior columns all looked identical, both the grade and thickness of their steel varied from place to place, said Dr. Fahim Sadek, a researcher at the institute's building and fire research lab, who is producing a detailed structural model of the towers on a computer using the original blueprints. So there were actually more than 130 different column types, he said, each having to be accounted for in his model. From there, it gets only more intricate. One of Dr. Sadek's detailed models for a single floor -- the 96th floor of the north tower, considered typical -- contains 40,000 separate elements. A coarser representation of the entire tower contains 90,000 elements.
Swiss Re/Exponent Failure Analysis Associates WTC engineering study, Oct. 2002 (Complete copies of the FaAA study are available at Swiss Re by calling 212-317-5663.)
Ming Wang, Peter Chang, James Quintiere, and Andre Marshall "Scale Modeling of the 96th Floor of World Trade Center Tower 1" Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities Volume 21, Issue 6, pp. 414-421 http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=3161860#post3161860
Applied Reseach Associates NIST World Trade Center Investigations
Aircraft Impact Analysis of the World Trade Center Towers (Univ. of Tsukuba)
Jay Windley's (Jay Utah of BAUT forum) excellent explanation of Finite Element Analysis
Structure Magazine: Computer Modeling of the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers (March, 2007)
CAD Digest article with CAD graphics (September, 2001) G. Charles Clifton
NIST's SAP reference models of WTC 1&2, obtained through FOIA request
More on WTC engineering, articles by and about engineers
who worked on the buildings and on the investigations
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS AT GROUND ZERO - NCSEA (August Domel, Nov. 2001)
The Days After, the Days Ahead: Civil engineers respond to 9/11 Attacks (Civil Engineering, Nov. 2001)
Structural engineers first in the aftermath
Civil Engineering Magazine: Dissecting the Collapses
Articles in the National Academy of Engineering's "The Bridge" Spring, 2002 (PDF):
* Editorial: Engineering and Homeland Defense by George Bugliarello
* World Trade Center "Bathtub": From Genesis to Armageddon by George J. Tamaro The engineer who oversaw the construction of the World Trade Center "bathtub" describes the recovery efforts.
* A 911 Call to the Engineering Profession by Robert Prieto The events of September 11 challenged the future of our heavily engineered environment and the future of the engineering profession.
Early Structural Investigation Teams (through 5/02)
ASCE WTC Disaster Response Team
Engineer Tim Schenck on early GZ work
Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) The World Trade Center Terrorist Attack: Damage to Critical Facilities and Crisis Response
Georgia Tech Engineering Team Will Conduct Post-Disaster Assessment at World Trade Center Attack Site
Architecture Week: Engineers Explain Collapses (5/2002)
Towers Lost and Beyond: 8 Articles by MIT researchers 2001-2002.
Civil Engineer: WTC & Pentagon Links Portal
Blog: Civil & structural engineers on WTC collapse
Forum on Technical Implications of WTC Collapses (Columbia U., November, 2001)
MIT Masters Thesis: WTC Disaster Analysis & Recommendations (June, 2005)
Designing tall buildings to Resist Earthquakes ($ NYT 2002)
Institute of Structural Engineers: Safety in tall buildings and other buildings of large occupancy ($ 2002)
9/17/01 Inferno Heat, Not Impact, Brought Down Towers, Experts Say
9/19/01: Space.com "Gravity Helped Destroy Twin Towers" concrete too heavy for core construction, walls seen buckling, seismic data
Others write about sensibly about the collapses
JREF Nobby Nobbs: Some basics on the physics of the collapses
Bautforum: Jay Utah's excellent explanation of Finite Element Analysis
JREF R. Mackey on Gordon Ross / Frank Greening debate
JREF R.Mackey on freefall and energy available for deformation
JREF R. Mackey on Judy Wood's "Math"
JREF Arkan on tower collapse times
JREF Myriad on kinetic energy of initial collapses
JREF rwguinn on structural steel deformation
JREF Dr. Adequate on Steven Jones' "handwaving" argument.
Physics kinetic energy Moscatelli The destructive forces unleashed
Steven Jones to Jim Fetzer: grand piano speed, damage to bathtub Judy Wood
JREF Kookbreaker on pancake collapse history
Ryan Mackey on independent validations of the NIST report.
Roberts: Were the towers as strong as they were designed to be?
JREF rwguinn: The engineers in my office thought the towers would collapse
More about the NIST & FEMA investigations
In Collapsing Towers, a Cascade of Failures ($ NYT Nov. 11, 2001)
Experts Urging Broader Inquiry In Towers' Fall (NYT Glanz, steel removal, Dec 25, 2001)
NIST to take over collapse investigation ($ NYT January 17, 2002)
Critique of FEMA WTC report by Ed Schulte in Plumbing Engineer, July, 2005 (PDF)
Learning from 9/11 (March, 2002) Hearing before the House Committee on Science: ASCE/FEMA BPAT study
Mismanagement Muddled Collapse Inquiry, House Panel Says (FEMA/NYC gov't/Fed gov't. $ NYT March 7, 2002)
At one point, Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat from New York City, asked for the official in charge to raise his hand, and two men, and then three appeared to do so. ''We have very serious problems here,'' added Representative John B. Larson, a Connecticut Democrat.
The lack of clear authority has had unfortunate consequences, the House members said. The Giuliani administration started to send World Trade Center steel off to recycling yards before investigators could examine it to determine whether it might hold crucial clues as to why the buildings fell.
The full investigative team set up by FEMA was not allowed to enter ground zero to collect other potentially critical evidence in the weeks after the attack, and it did not get a copy of the World Trade Center blueprints until early January, a delay House members found infuriating.
'The delay in the receipt of the plans did somewhat hinder the team's ability to confirm their understanding of the buildings,'' said Dr. W. Gene Corley, a structural engineer leading the investigative committee organized by FEMA.
A Port Authority spokesman defended the agency, saying that building plans had been given to federal officials within a week of the attack and that the agency was cooperating fully with the inquiry.
The federal officials who testified yesterday -- Dr. Arden L. Bement Jr., the director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Robert F. Shea, the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Insurance and Mitigation Administration -- repeatedly nodded their agreement.
In response to criticism from one committee member, Mr. Shea said, ''Frankly, I agree with you. There are many things in hindsight we would have done differently.''
The problem, they said, was the lack of clear authority in federal law and financing. None of the investigators, for example, had subpoena power, meaning that they could not order the city to stop sending the steel off for recycling or demand a copy of the building blueprints.
Government Orders Inquiry Into Trade Center Collapse ($ NYT March 23, 2002)
The Trade Center; Towers Fell as Intense Fire Beat Defenses, Report Says (FEMA. $ NYT March 29, 2002)
Interviews will examine why trade center collapsed -100,000 workers issued security passes
Wider Inquiry Into Towers Is Proposed ($ NYT May 2, 2002)
"In Data Trove, a Graphic Look at Towers' Fall, ($ NYT October 29, 2002)
Twin Tower Collapse Theory Challenged (Feb. 2003)
NIST Minutes of December 2-3, 2003, Meeting
New Evidence Is Reported That Floors Failed on 9/11 ($ NYT Dec. 3, 2003)
S. Shyam Sunder, who is leading the investigation for the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the Commerce Department, said, ''We are seeing evidence of floors appearing to be sagging -- or that had been damaged -- prior to collapse.'' Still, Dr. Sunder said, ''The relative role of the floors and the columns still remain to be determined in the collapse.''
NIST Not Ruling Anything Out on WTC Probe
Reliving 9/11, With Fire as Teacher (Modeling. $ NYT, Jan. 6, 2004)
NIST Public Briefing 05/05/04
Fire Testing Is Questioned In Findings On Towers (Current testing standards for new buildings inadequate. $ NYT August 26, 2004)
WTC Twin Tower Construction Details Pertinent to Engineering Investigations
See also WTC Construction, Systems, Power and WTC Core Construction
Gregory Urich: Detailed Estimate of Mass and Potential Energy of World Trade Center Tower (pdf)
WTC 1 & 2 core column data
Report of WTC fire code compliance--1993 (pdf)
Some Progressive Collapse Studies & Recommendations
Thanks to JREF forum member cmcaulif for his contributions
Progressive Collapse Basics (R. Shankar Nair. 2004 North American Steel Construction Conference. PDF)
Fire Induced Progressive Collapse. (Arup. PDF) "This paper considers issues related to fire induced progressive collapse of tall buildings in extreme events."
Fire induced progressive collapse analysis of high rise buildings
NISTIR 7396 "Best Practices for Reducing the Potential for Progressive Collapse in Buildings," February 2007
Above report based on NIST/SEI workshops. Workshop presentation materials are here.
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl: Progressive collapse prevention in new and existing buildings (Includes use of catenary action of cables to resist collapse. 2003. pdf).
Practical Means for Energy-Based Analyses of Disproportionate Collapse Potential
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Volume 20, Issue 4, pp. 336-348 (November 2006)
Progressive Analysis Procedure for Progressive Collapse
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Volume 18, Issue 2, pp. 79-85 (May 2004)
Progressive Collapse of Structures: Annotated Bibliography and Comparison of Codes and Standards
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, Volume 20, Issue 4, pp. 418-425 (November 2006)
Some Engineering & physics fundamentals & calculation aids
Efunda: Engineering Fundamentals
Online scientific calculator and unit converter
Shear Force And Bending diagrams 1
Ductile fracture and fragmentation in the reconstruction of the World Trade Center Attack (Wierzbicki)
Elastic Bending Theory
JREF: PixyMIsa on truther misuse of the term "entropy"
JREF Structural Engineer Newtons Bit on DCR/dead/live loads/safety factor
Steel: Ultimate strength vs. yield strength (strength is in the geometry)
A demonstration of kinetic energy: 7 grams of plastic vs. cast aluminum block
Main 9/11 Links Page
Fire Safety Engineering & the Performance of Structural Steel in Fires
Main 9/11 Links Page
See also Investigations leading to alternate tower collapse hypotheses, and critiques of NIST's
WTC investigation by knowledgeable people who are not conspiracy theorists
A few examples of structural steel failing in building fires
Large multistory steel-framed factory buildings quickly collapse due to fire Go
Unprotected steel fails in Madrid's Windsor Building fire, concrete core stands. Go
Collapse mechanism of the Madrid Windsor Building Go
BBC Report: Windsor building fire Go
Unprotected steel truss roof quickly fails in fire at McCormick Place, Chicago Go
Fire damage to protected steel in One Meridian Plaza, Philadelphia Go
Noises in steel buildings during fire equals danger! Go
JREF, Unfit4Command: Examples of steel destroyed by fire Go
Steel fails in paper factory fire Go
A building fire and structural failure (Steel buildings collapse due to fire) Go
Loss of fireproofing on steel leads to collapse (PDF) Go
NIST and FEMA Experiments, Studies, and Reports
NCSTAR 1-1 Design, Construction, and Maintenance of Structural and Life Safety Systems
NCSTAR 1-4 Active Fire Protection Systems
NCSTAR 1-5 Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers
NCSTAR 1-6 Structural Fire Response and Probable Collapse Sequence of the World Trade Center Towers
NCSTAR 1-7 Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communication
NCSTAR 1-8 The Emergency Response Operations
FEMA 403 Appendix A: Overview of Fire Protection in Buildings (pdf) Go
NIST: Fire Protection of Structural Steel in High-Rise buildings (white paper) Go
Underwriters Labs post-9/11 WTC fire testing, ASTM E119 standard Go
NIST early WTC fire simulation experiments and photos Go
Report of WTC fire code compliance--1993 (pdf Released via nistreview.org FOIA request) Go
NIST's Safety of Threatened Buildings Research Projects
NIST: 2-D Analysis of a Building Frame Under Gravity Load and Fire.
Fire Protection Engineering: "The future of fire simulation at NIST" (PDF)
NIST Gallery of WTC Fire Experiment #6
NIST project 6 structural fire response & collapse analysis
NIST Collected Publications Related to the Use of Elevators During Fires
Fire Protection Engineering Magazine on Computer Modeling / NIST
NIST fire tests: steel residential floor assemblies last 4 mins.
Similar test to above: steel lasts 4.5 minutes, wood, 9 minutes.
Some comments on Fire Testing and Modeling in the NIST WTC 1&2 report
FIRE CHIEFS REPORT ON 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT
Ryan Mackey on NIST recovered steel and fire models Go
JREF Ktesbios on NIST workstation actual tests Go
JREF RWGuinn on testing models to failure Go
Ryan Mackey on NIST fuel load estimates Go
Building Code Changes and Recommendations Resulting from WTC Collapses
Sally Regenhard Calls for New High-Rise Codes and Code Group Composition (Fire Engineering Mag. 4/02)
Engineering News-Record: Skyscrapers' Supporters Infuriated By Fire Fearmongers (response to Regenhard & SyscraperSafety.org)
SWEEPING CHANGES PUSHED FOR CODE ON CITY HIGH-RISES (NYT Aug 2, 2002)
City Reshaping Building Codes To U.S. Model (NYT May 17, 2004)
9/11 Has Spurred Only Modest Changes in New York City and National Building Codes (NYT 9/9/06)
First Comprehensive Set of Model Code Changes Adopted Based on Recommendations from Commerce's NIST World Trade Center Investigation (June, 2007)
NYC Building Code - Fire Protection
UK reached same NIST conclusions 3 years earlier: ARUP, New Civil Engineer Plus Go
NYC Dept. of Buildings WTC Task Force recommendations report Go
NIST summary of WTC 1 & 2 investigation results & recommendations (PDF)
The AIA's Response to NIST's Draft Report and Recommendations (PDF)
The World Trade Center Collapse and its Implications for International Standards - W. Gene Corley ISO Focus, January 2004 (PDF)
"Reexamining Premises for High-Rise Design" Security Management magazine (PDF)
In this article from Security Management magazine, Dr. Gene Corley discusses lessons from the World Trade Center investigation and how they might affect future building design.
NIBS Building Code Experts: Translating WTC Recommendations into Model Building Codes
TOWERS' COLLAPSE RAISES NEW DOUBTS ABOUT FIRE TESTS (NYT April 8, 2002)
''If I say, 'That product passed the test,' you as John Q. Public may be happy,'' said Dr. James G. Quintiere, a professor in fire protection engineering at the University of Maryland. ''But if we say, 'It passed the test, but we don't know how it will function in your house,' you would not be happy.''
TOWERS UNTESTED FOR MAJOR FIRE, INQUIRY SUGGESTS (NYT May 8, 2003)
Federal investigators studying the collapse of the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, say they now believe that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the government agency that built the towers, never performed the fundamental tests needed to determine how their innovative structures would perform in a fire
Papers and articles about fire vs. structural steel, specific to the WTC
The behavior of lightweight composite floor trusses in fire Go
Did the Ban on Asbestos Lead to Loss of Life? (Guy Tozzoli, 707, PA discontinued asbestos use before required to do so. $ NYT 9/18/01)
Asbestos Use in the Construction of the World Trade Center
Faulty Fireproofing Is Reviewed as Factor in Trade Center Collapse (Frederick Mowrer, Alan REiss, Roger Morse. $ NYT Dec 13, 2001)
Comparing 2 Sets Of Twin Towers; Malaysian Buildings Offered as Model (Charles Thornton on Petronas Towers / High-strength concrete / Robertson / Nordenson NYT Oct. 23, 2002)
Some interesting thoughts on WTC fire protection, steel vs. concrete, redundancy, new materials Go
Charles H. Thornton, a structural engineer who is co-chairman of the Thornton-Tomasetti Group and also a member of the investigation's advisory committee, said the work would go a long way toward putting the field on a par with research on weaponry and space travel, which also require precise calculation of the effects of heat and blast on structures. ''It's never been done before in the building industry,'' said Mr. Thornton, who collaborated in the design of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, currently the world's tallest structures. Especially puzzling is that the analysis of hazards posed by earthquakes and high winds has far outstripped similar work on fires. But just as earthquake engineering lurched forward after the major California quakes of 1971, 1989 and 1994, fire science is advancing after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Reliving 9/11, With Fire as Teacher (NYT Jan 6, 2004)
Role of Fire Resistance Issues in the Collapse of the Twin Towers (PDF. Institute for Research in Construction, Canada)
Papers and articles about fire vs. structural steel, not specific to the WTC
Restrained fire resistance ratings in structural steel buildings Go
Structural Fire Engineering: Database: Cardington Fire Test Data Go
JREF: Dave_46 on the Cardington Lab Tests
Determination of fire induced collapse mechanisms of multi-story steel framed structures Go
A New Approach to Multi-Storey Steel Framed Buildings Fire and Steel Construction.
Rein et all, Multi-Story Fire Analysis for High Rise Buildings, 11th Interflam, London, September 2007
Performance of unprotected steel and composite steel frames exposed to fire (Master's Thesis) Go
Effect of Support Conditions on Steel Beams Exposed of Fire (Master's Thesis) Go
Fire safety engineering forum (numerous papers) Go
Recent advances in fire-structure analysis. Fire Safety Journal, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 20 August 2007, Dat Duthinh, Kevin McGrattan and Abed Khaskia
Coupled fire dynamics and thermal response of complex building structures. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, Volume 30, Issue 2, January 2005, Pages 2255-2262 Kuldeep Prasad and Howard R. Baum
"Cabling in commercial buildings is frequently in close proximity to structural steel beams - which can lose structural integrity at fire temperatures as low as 800 degrees centigrade. Combustible cabling can burn at temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees centigrade - sufficient to cause the collapse of tall buildings under certain conditions.
The average ten-story commercial building with 100 office workstations per floor can contain more than 1 million feet of combustible "exception" cabling in concealed spaces; equivalent to the fuel load of 1,500 gallons of gasoline." http://www.cablefireresearch.org/cabling/risk.asp
Skyscraper fire protection in practice after 9/11, innovations, proposals
The discipline of structural fire protection after 9/11 Go
Arup: Innovative Structural Engineering for Tall builings in Fire (2005, PDF) Go
Arup Fire - Fire engineers present latest tall building structural response in severe fire studies (2005) Go
Structural fire engineering: Free advice from structural fire group in Manchester University. Go
Fire and Structures: The Implications of the World Trade Center (PDF) Go
Scientific American: New Thinking to Make Skyscrapers Safer Go
A Midtown Skyscraper Quietly Adds Armor (Citigroup Center NYT Aug 15, 2002)
Report Sees Lower Towers That Can Empty Faster (NYT March 28, 2002)
9/11 Prompts New Caution In Design of U.S. Skyscrapers (300 Mad., NYT Bldg, AOL Time Warner. NYT Sept. 9, 2002)
Structural Fire Engineering, World Trade Center Incident (9-11) & Fire Serviceability Limit States
Interact Fire Solutions--Passive Fire Protection using cast epoxy intumescent
Scientific American: New thinking to make skyscrapers safer
Interesting approach to protecting steel using fluid in channels
Cables hold promise in protecting existing buildings from bombs, researchers find
ARCHITECTURE; High Anxiety (Freedom Tower. NYT March 14, 2004)
The Fire Next Time: Skyscraper safety: the push for NY's high-rises to learn not to burn (VV July 5, 2005)
Increasing use of concrete in skyscrapers.
Astaneh recommends concrete shear walls
Lloyd's commissions study: King Concrete - 08 December 2001 - New Scientist
Concrete: Changing Uses Post-9/11 (New York Construction News May, 2003)
Public Issues and the World Trade Center Disaster (Masonry Contractors Association)
Features of the new WTC 7
Video: New WTC 7: safety and structural features
Fire engineering history, general publications
Dr. James Quintiere presentation on the history of fire science, fire science & education (PDF)
Eurocode: Introduction to Structural Fire Engineering (Powerpoint presentation) Go
Fire Engineering archives (subscription) and FDNY Chief Hayden podcasts (free)
Structural Fire Engineering One Stop Shop
Publications of the Fire Safety Association
Book: Collapse of Burning Buildings : A Guide to Fireground Safety - Vincent Dunn Go
Links to several fire studies from Peter, an architect with experience in designing high-rises
Publications of the University of Sheffield Fire Engineering Research Program Go
Arup Fire on Tall Buildings and the Events of 9/11 Go
Determination of Fire Induced Collapse Mechanisms of Multi-Storey Steel Framed Structures Go
Miscellaneous related links
AIA Building Security Through Design
Where does black smoke come from? (dark vs. light smoke explanation)
Oil rig destroyed in two hours by fire.
Elevator shaft smoke explosion Boston Go
Physicist Manuel Garcia Jr.: The Thermodynamics of 9/11 Go
Chris Marrion of ARUP USA Go
Book: Why Buildings Fall Down (great for the layman)
Main 9/11 Links Page
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Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail