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NIST Releases Report On WTC 7 Collapse

photonic writes "After three years of study, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) finally released its report on the collapse of World Trade Center building 7. The main conclusion is that the building came down due to fire, not due to debris damage or some conspiracy demolition team. The fire started pretty small after the collapse of WTC 1, but was left to burn several floors out completely. The important finding is that the collapse was triggered by thermal expansion of beams, which could detach asymmetrically loaded girders from the main columns. Some limited pancaking of floors then caused a lack of lateral support and buckling of a single column. This triggered the failure of the entire core of the building, which finally fell down as a single piece. Crackpot theories can be discussed elsewhere; please limit the discussion to the science here. All documents can be found at NIST's WTC page, which read like a porn magazine for finite element junkies. Simulation movies are also available. And yes, they used Beowulf clusters to do the simulations, some of which lasted for several months."

7 of 1,331 comments (clear)

  1. WTC owner admits to a controlled demolition by sega01 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Larry Silverstein (owner of the WTC) admitted that they had a controlled demolition. Why is this not mentioned anywhere? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WYdAJQV100

  2. Re:This is not supposed to be a restricted forum. by Chas · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It's the difference between arguing "facts" and "beliefs".

    "I believe THUS" is not subject to any form of rational proof or disproof.

    "But this only happens because people don't just stand there and accept blindly what is told to them especially when it goes against commen sense."

    That's the thing about "common sense". It just ISN'T that common.

    A NIST engineer, somebody who's actually studied the debris, seen the site, and understands the physics involved says "According to the evidence, it happened THUS".

    Bert Armchair, with a lousy example of a third-grade education, is sitting in front of his boob-tube chucks back a Schlitz and goes "Sounds hokey to me. I think Alien Ninjas from the gub'mint blew it up!"

    Now what is YOUR "common" sense telling you at this point?

    Simply having an opinion and an alternate theory on how something came about doesn't make you an authority.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  3. Re:Really? by The+Master+Control+P · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Bushco did 9/11? Nonsense.

    Bushco knew what was going to happen and tacitly let it happen because they wanted their New Pearl Harbor? Yeah, I wouldn't put that past a group of sociopaths.

  4. The only conspiracy theory that makes sense by catchblue22 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    The idea that these buildings were brought down by explosives is patently absurd. Period. However there is a "conspiracy theory" that is, to me at least, plausable and believable. Namely that Bush/Cheney and the other neocons allowed 9/11 to happen by looking the other way, and by not doing enough to stop it.

    It is a well known fact, as outlined in the "Project for a New American Century", that Cheney and the other neocons wanted desparately to go into Iraq. It is also a fact that the Patriot Act had been written several years before 9/11, and was sitting in a drawer, waiting to be enacted. It doesn't seem too much of a stretch to me to think that Cheney would allow America to be attacked in a hugely symbolic but ultimately non-devastating way, as a way of pushing the country into Iraq, and of foisting laws like the Patriot Act on congress.

    However, I fear that what I propose here will be lumped in with all of the other crackpot conspiracy theories about demolition teams in the twin towers. There is really no compelling evidence to support what I say. Only a strong suspicion based on what was written in the Project for a New American Century document, and observation of how far the neoconservatives seemed willing to go to enact their policies. America under Cheney and his neocon thugs has been a profoundly unsettling place. I often feel that there is a war being waged right under our noses, against freedom and the ideals of American democracy.

    --
    This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
  5. Re:Really? by segedunum · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Why did you lie about not being a conspiracy theorist?

    Hmmmmm, yer. I just wonder who the conspiracy theorists are really.

    Anyway, any structural engineer can tell you that you're full of shit. There's more than enough kinetic energy in a building like WTC7 to guarantee a complete collapse once the mass starts moving.

    More than enough kinetic energy where, and what mass starts moving? In what way does this utterly meaningless and non-defined statement pertain to WTC 7 or any of the other buildings? If anything is full of shit, it's that. You can't start a fire and/or structurally destabilise the top few floors in a multi-storey building and have it completely collapse the whole building. Fact. The greater number of structurally sound floors below are more than enough to dissipate any energy and momentum of such a collapse unless you destabilise the floors below (or they are already destabilised) in some way so they respond weakly. Try this on any model that you might care to build. Seriously.

    The reason demolition teams normally get involved is simply because if you want a CONTROLLED demolition, you need to be careful about how you bring the building down.

    No shit?

  6. Occams Razor by evanism · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    3 steel buildings fall over, the first time in history, under exceptional circumstances, one thats required 7 years investigation to explain.... OR, they were knocked down deliberately.

    I know where my money is placed.

    --
    Just bought a new quantum computer, but I'm uncertain how it works.
  7. Re:Ummm yeah right by terjeber · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Buildings are NOT designed to suffer complete destruction after an accident.

    Now we know you are retarded. Please stop posting until you have learned how to read. I never said they were designed to suffer complete destruction, I said that they were designed such that in case of complete destruction, it would be a pancake collapse.

    Please go find some references on the assertion that buildings are designed to fail like this under ALL assertions.

    Please go and find a place where I said so. Then go and find a course on reading 101.

    I wouldn't begin to know or imagine what really happened

    Once you have finished Reading 101, try the NIST report. It is quite enlightening.

    I actually work with architects and engineers every day

    The fact that you clean toilets at an architects office doesn't mean you are an expert on architecture. Also, given the fact that you clearly can not read, you never will be.

    I find it ridiculously hard to imagine that a building catching fire could lead to a complete collapse by design.

    And I find it ridiculously hard to imagine that someone who can't actually read is still so eager to post drivel in a public forum.