Posted on 06/20/2007 6:47:14 PM PDT by bnelson44
A computer simulation of the 2001 World Trade Center attacks supports a federal agency’s findings that the initial impact from the hijacked airplanes stripped away crucial fireproofing material and that the weakened towers collapsed under their own weight.
The two-year Purdue University study, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, was the first to use 3-D animation to provide visual context to the attacks, said Christoph Hoffmann, a professor of computer science and one of the lead researchers on the project.
“One thing it does point out… is the absolute essential nature of fireproofing steel structures,” Hoffmann told The Associated Press. “This is something that wasn’t done originally in the World Trade Center when it was built. It wasn’t code at that time.”
Mete Sozen, a professor of structural engineering and a lead investigator on the simulation, said Purdue researchers hope their work leads to better structural design and building codes to prevent similar collapses.
“In the unfortunate development that we shall have to design structures to survive such events, the methods we have developed and will be developing will be of great use to designers,” Sozen said.
The animation, intended in part to help engineers design safer buildings, begins with a map of lower Manhattan as it appeared on Sept. 11, 2001. The video then shows a plane slicing through several stories of the World Trade Center’s north tower and follows the disintegrating plane through the interior and out the opposite side.
The report concludes that the weight of the aircraft’s fuel, when ignited, produced “a flash flood of flaming liquid” that knocked out a number of structural columns within the building and removed the fireproofing insulation from other support structures, Hoffmann said.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Purdue University’s computer simulation:
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/06/13/video-the-attack-on-the-north-tower-re-created/
The real cost of environMENTALism
Wasn’t there another building called number seven which collapsed a couple hours after the two towers imploded?
Yeah sure. Computers lie and liars compute.
I seriously doubt that flying a jumbo jet into a building will ever be tried again in America.
That's a good defense if you expect people to fly fuel-laden planes into buildings regularly. What would be more effective would be to prevent planes from flying into buildings. Had most public-educated people not been repeatedly been taught to be cowards, I doubt that even one plane would have reached its destination.
The towers did not implode they collapsed - yes, we need to be sure that the media doesn’t RE-DO the verbal portion of history. If the word imploded gets into the books, then those nutcase wackos go off on how it was a plot by the Bush administration so they could go to war and attack Iraq!
Collapsed in on itself hence the word implosion.
I always wondered if these “people” realize that fuel mixing with plastics (Very common thing in office spaces) creates something called napalm. The problem with computer models is that they are only as smart and creative as the people putting them together.
#7 came down about seven hours later, not two.
Oh yeah, and it pretty much burned all afternoon before it collapsed.
This is the building that the conspiracy theorists think is the KEY to the whole diabolical plan, can’t believe you’re only now catching up. :D
Unless the Jihadists are still not satisfied with their results from the last attack on CONUS [dumb answer rant off]
Every conceivable barn door has been closed on that vanished horse. Sealed cockpits, and passengers who will clobber any errant fellow traveler in a New York minute. Plus (for show) airport security out the wazoo. Next thing will probably be chemical/dirty bomb or a nuke.
I had already used the word collapsed in the sentence and I tried to use a similar word. I should have used a thesaurus. I had some nuts at Dealey Plaza tell me it was Bush’s fault and they mentioned the other building. I was hoping for a good rebuttal next time I’m down there.
Congrats! You sire are teh winnar of the internets!
They collapsed. I have two good eyes and that is what happened.
Point taken but we are in a age of feelings not meaning.
I’ll have to read that book.
The people who claim LBJ killed Kennedy are exactly the same as the ones who claim Bush dropped the Twin Towers. Some Freeper who makes their living as a shrink could probably name the mental illness.
None of these studies touch on the fact that the Port Authority of NY and NJ did not apply the fireproofing properly. Had it been installed correctly, maybe things would have turned out a little different, maybe the towers would have stood a little longer, allowing more people to escape. They’d have fallen anyway most likely, but extra minutes would have went a long way in lives saved....
It really disappoints me the number of JFK conspiracy kooks there are here at FR.
geez, the way you word it, it almost sounds like you want MORE conspiracy kooks, heheh....
When construction of the World Trade Center began, its design called for an insulating coating on the steel support beams. The coating’s purpose was to delay heating of the beams in case of a fire, providing an estimated four hours for evacuation and fire fighting before the beams weakened to the point of structural collapse.
This insulating coating contained asbestos. Following the EPA’s lead, New York City outlawed asbestos while the Trade Center was still under construction. As a result, the coating was not used on the upper floors of the towers. An asbestos-free substitute was used, one which was inadequate according to some designers.
Engineers were surprised when the towers collapsed so soon after terrorists crashed planes into both. It may be that the collapses would have been delayed further were it not for the ban on asbestos. Any delay, of course, would have saved even more lives.
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/opinion/opinion2001-06.html
Read it and weep....I wonder if families have a claim agaist the EPA...
I’ll have to read that book.
The people who claim LBJ killed Kennedy are exactly the same as the ones who claim Bush dropped the Twin Towers. Some Freeper who makes their living as a shrink could probably name the mental illness.
I don’t know if he’s a Freeper, but “Liberalism is a mental disorder” by Michael Savage seems to fit.
I read a book called “102 Minutes” that recreates what was going on inside the building based on witnesses, phone calls, etc. Throughout the book there were chapters on the construction, insulation, limited number of stairwells, stair width, etc. The Towers were the first in the all-steel construction (as opposed to the older concrete construction of the Empire State Building, etc.).
VERY interesting book from both the personal accounts and the engineering stanpoints. Also lots of history about the police/fire communications problems, etc.
You’re right. It is very disappointing. The scary thing is they quote Oliver Stone.
Given their over-regulation and the government's penchant to apply a hammer to a loose screw, I would think that we all have a claim against the EPA for some reason or another.
The people above were trapped. Could they have made it to the roof and been rescued by helicopters? Perhaps if we had a way to fight the fires, rather than having to watch them burn, the extra time would have made a difference. How about foam-spraying booms on helicopters?
The kooks are going insane this morning over this....(chuckle)
Its tense in mommies basement all over the country.
(chuckle)
No surprise, its become the single biggest kook site on the net recently.
‘If I recall, USA Today looked at who survived and who didn’t. Most everyone below the impact points got out and most everyone above them died.”
Yep.
” Don’t know if better insulation would have saved any lives. Maybe the firefighters would have gotten out before they fell.”
Maybe.
“The people above were trapped. Could they have made it to the roof and been rescued by helicopters?”
Nope. No place to land, and the winds were way to high for them to approach.
‘Perhaps if we had a way to fight the fires, rather than having to watch them burn, the extra time would have made a difference. How about foam-spraying booms on helicopters?’
Because tens of thousands of jet fuel were violently inserted into the core of the buildings, it wouldn’t have made any difference.
What is Libertypost?
There's no evidence he's a Freeper, but Charles Krauthammer (former shrink) already did it - "Bush Derangement Syndrome".
Exactly. They’ll find another “Barn Door” that isn’t locked or just barred with rotten wood.
There are other mineral based, non asbestos fireproofing materials that work by swelling up with tiny air bubbles (intumescent) when heated. They are quite good because the bubbles are a much better insulator than any solid substance, just like a styrofoam cup will keep a lemonade cold longer than a solid plastic tumbler will.
But the technology is fairly new, and might not have been available at that time.
Smuggling whatever over the Mexican-US border sounds likely.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.