[Interesting Times]

The professor at the University of California at Berkeley said preliminary evidence indicates the structures withstood the impacts of the planes.

Ah. That would explain why they didn't fall down right away.

Whatever they pay this guy, it just isn't enough...

[HiTech RedNeck]

Astaneh-Asl said he hopes his work might one day be used to help design a different structure perhaps using different materials that would keep a plane from piercing the core of a building and spilling its explosive cargo of jet fuel, he said.

It's unlikely that we will be plagued with more incidents of this kind, now that we have a radically different attitude -- keep the cockpit at all costs -- towards attempted jet hijackings. It wouldn't be cost effective to armor-shield all tall buildings this way.

Something which might make marginal sense would be a means of quickly delivering Halon to several floors of a building. Halon is used in fire extinguishing systems in computer rooms; it is expensive but it is not harmful to equipment or to people. A sufficient quantity of Halon would have put out the jet fuel fires from the 9/11 attacks.

[John Jamieson]

We put an middle easterner in charge of this? I hope this guy is being checkout. I didn't notice one sentient remark.

[Koblenz]

Damn, I must be a pretty good structural engineer. Although I've never studied structural engineering or architecture, I knew everything that this professor did. And I didn't spend two weeks looking at scrap metal.

[Swiss]

If they was to rebuild the WTC I think they would be wise to use Space Shuttle like ceramic heat tiles to protect all vital structual supports if it is affordable.

My guess about the reason of the stuctural failure would be that thousands of gallons of burning jet fuel flowed down the elevator shafts into the basement and weakened the supports at that level. Take out the load bearing supports in the basement and you have an implosion effect, take out the supports on the 42nd floor and more likely your columns would fail earlier at the point of impact that other points and the tower would fall to one side like a tree cut down.

I am no engineer but I think this sad event will change the design of skyscrapers in the future.

[Slyfox]

The Physics of Turning a Tower Into a Cloud of Dust and Rubble

[rockfish59]

so are they collecting evidence for a big trial in the hague? i wonder if johnny cochran will defend bin laden?

'if bin wasn't in the cockpit, then you must acquit'!