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To: Anthem

There are a couple of legitimate questions here. For example, I've long suspected that the design of the buildings was one of the contributing factors in their collapse. The external lattice frame that was used in their construction was an innovative design element back then, and I suspect the buildings would have stood a much better chance of surviving the impact and fire if they were constructed with a standard internal column/beam frame.


28 posted on 02/01/2006 8:56:14 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Leave a message with the rain . . . you can find me where the wind blows.)
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To: Alberta's Child

How did the Twin Towers fall?
1. Impact from the Terrorist Planes
When Boeing jets piloted by terrorists struck the Twin Towers, some 10,000 gallons (38 kiloliters) of jet fuel fed an enormous fireball. But, the impact of the planes and the burst of flames did not make the Towers collapse right away. Like most buildings, the Twin Towers had redundant design. The term redundant design means that when one system fails, another carries the load. Each of the Twin Towers had 244 columns around a central core that housed the elevators, stairwells, mechanical systems, and utilities. When some columns were damaged, others could still support the building.
2. Heat from the Fires
The sprinkler system was damaged by the impact of the planes. But even if the sprinklers had been working, they could not have maintained enough pressure to stop the fire. Fed by the remaining jet fuel, the heat became intense. Most fires don't get hotter than 900 to 1,100 degrees F. The World Trade Center fire may have reached 1,300 or 1,400 degrees F. Structural steel does not easily melt, but it will lose about half its strength at 1,200 degrees F. The steel structure of the Twin Towers was weakened by the extreme heat. The steel also became distorted because the heat was not a uniform temperature.

3. Collapsing Floors
Most fires start in one area and then spread. The fire from the terrorist planes covered the area of an entire floor almost instantly. As the weakened floors began to collapse, they crashed into the floors below. With the weight of the plunging floors accelerating, the exterior walls buckled.

Why did the collapsed towers look so flat?
Before the terrorist attack, the Twin Towers were 110 stories tall. Constructed of lightweight steel around a central core, they were about 95% air. After they collapsed, the hollow core was gone. The remaining rubble was only a few stories high.


33 posted on 02/01/2006 8:57:42 PM PST by Howlin (Why don't you just report the news, instead of what might be the news? - Donald Rumsfeld 1/25/2006)
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To: Alberta's Child
-- The external lattice frame that was used in their construction was an innovative design element back then, and I suspect the buildings would have stood a much better chance of surviving the impact and fire if they were constructed with a standard internal column/beam frame.

That's the standard story. In Jones' work he shows the bearing capacity of the internal column structure. In fact the building structural design is more redundant than most other buildings.

43 posted on 02/01/2006 9:03:15 PM PST by Anthem (One can not lie their way to the truth.)
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