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To: JohnHuang2
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.
12 posted on 10/05/2001 10:43:02 PM PDT by Koblenz
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To: Koblenz
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.

While the article does have a certain "well duh" quotient, there are some significant questions which this type of analysis could answer. Among these, which structural members failed when, how hot they got before they failed, etc. Unfortunately, most of the evidence got rather badly crushed and it's hard to tell what damage occurred before the building started its progressive collapse and what damage occurred after.

One thing I suspect may have hastened the collapse would be the transfer of heat between structural members which were broken by the plane and those which were--including fireproofing--intact. If a large assembly of steel beams and girders is encased in fireproofing except for an exposed portion which is sitting in a raging fire, the fire may be able to heat all of the connected beams--even those not exposed to it--to over 900 degrees causing them to lose half their strength. If that indeed occurred, it would suggest a need for thermal insulation between stuctural support members, rather than just enclosing the support structure as a whole.

23 posted on 10/05/2001 11:10:22 PM PDT by supercat
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