Posted by  Bob Nichols on September 23, 2001 at 21:46:30:

In Reply to:  Re: WTC Collapse posted by John A. Giambalvo on September 23, 2001 at 19:18:25:

No,
I think you will find the bottom line is that there is a distinct possibility that ANY building that relies on steel for its structural integrity will fail when subjected to a massive, prolonged, petro-chemical fire.

There have been plenty of steel structures that have failed due to large fires. BUT, there has only been one case where a building like this has had such a fire. I doubt that you have seen many 'towering infernos', most building fires are relatively low temperature with smoke being the killer. Further, I can't think of a single tall building fire that was even close to the size, temperature or spread of the WTC fires.

As to the pancaking, what other possibilities were there? Topling sideways? Having a building so strong that it could withstand the vertical impact of 50-60 thousand tons travelling at (at least) 10 of feet/sec - then what?

What it really comes down to is that 20-20 hindsight has demonstrated that a fully laden 767 can destroy the WTC. But what hasn't been demonstrated is that any other building could have survived similar circumstances.

Bob

Responses:

Post a Response -