Collapse of the World Trade Center - Some Engineering Aspects

The University of Sydney - Department of Civil Engineering ^ | The University of Sydney - Department of Civil Engineering

[laconas]

"OK engineers, someone want to get out those slide rulers and calculate the kiloton yield of a fully fueled Boeing 767 cruise missile traveling at 450 knots?"

The explosive force is not the issue here; the buildings were brought down because of the heat generated by the burning fuel that weakend the structural steel members allowing them to fail.

[cinFLA]

Yup, I don't have any solid data here at hand, but avgas itself is not explosive. It's only under an exact air fuel mixture that it will burn. Other wise it will evaporte quickly.

Jet engines do not burn avgas, which is similar to the gasoline we use in our cars. The fuel is more like kerosine, which does not evaporate easily (without heat). High octane avgas was often "used" in hotrods int he 50's and 60's.

[Chemnitz]

I cannot tell if there were bombs or not. Some people reported bombs going off after the collisions. I can only add this - as porous as the security was at various airports, Dumbo could have been on board. What we forget is that the checking system used for passengers is not used for the food service people.

I am not saying anything proves a bomb on board or demolition charges placed in advance in the buildings. I am not an engineer but the material posted does seem to prove that a jet with that much fuel could precipitate such a tower collapse. I am sorry that many people delayed their exit from the whole site. But who really knew?

The firemen and policemen - what heroes. I hope all Americans are inspired by them.

[surferUSA]

What would be the kiloton explosive yield of a 412,000 pound Boeing 767 jet passenger liner with 23,980 gallons of fuel and traveling at 500 knots?

Could it penetrate the containment vessel building of a U.S. nuclear power plant?

[surferUSA]

You implying that my B-school classmates that were hired by the CIA are now trafficking opium in Afghanistan?

LOL... I wondered where the tinfoil hats where. Looks like I found one.

[laconas]

Yes

[LLAN-DDEUSANT]

You implying that my B-school classmates that were hired by the CIA are now trafficking opium in Afghanistan?

CIA hires all sorts of folks for all sorts of things. I doubt your B-schools classmates are the ones. Do you know the Ollie North crowd? If not, that would largely clarify it.

[laconas]

Sometime in early June of this year I was in a thread about McVeigh and OKC. I think at one point I said something along the lines of: terrorists don't need a truck bomb or bomb to bring down a building, all they have to do is heat the structural steel to the point where it fails, and the building will collapse.

I tried looking for it( search), but could not find it. If you come across it, let me know.

[error99]

bumpity bump

[syriacus]

I've bookmarked this thread, because it has so much good information.

Thank you for starting it.

Thanks to you and others for contributing so much after it was started.

[r9etb]

The 747 went into service on 21 January 1970 with Pan Am. First flight occurred on 9 Feb 1969. Design of the buildings probably began in 64 or 65.

The 707 and DC-8 had been in service since the late '50s, though, and I'm sure we can agree that they were plenty big.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

You and I know that but the author of post #9, to whom I replied, apparently doesn't.