What is your point?
The WTC indeed withstood the impact of a fully-fuelled jetliner on both
towers. People had over an hour to get out of one tower and about 45
minutes to get out of the other. One person walked down from the 104th
floor and got all the way up to 14th St before the tower came down. I'd
conclude that the towers performed admirably. They no doubt would have
withstood a larger 707, so little was the physical damage yesterday.
The problem was the heat which eventually softened the steel and collapsed
the fire zone. Then the intact upper floors hammered their way down thru
the remaining floors below. That is where the engineering line was drawn;
only so much coating was provided the supporting posts. But it proved
capable of holding out for about an hour, which is quite a feat. Could
they have used a lot more? Possibly, but there is really no point in
keeping a tower that has been smashed into; it is not repairable and would
have to be demolished anyway, realistically speaking.
Bill
In <list-1285136@skylee.com>, on 09/12/01
at 05:12 AM, "J. Forster" <jfor@onemain.com> said:
>>From the NY Times web site:
>"After the 1993 trade center bombing, one of the engineers who worked on
>the towers' structural design in the 1960's claimed that each one had
>been built to withstand the impact of a fully loaded, fully fueled Boeing
>707, then the heaviest aircraft flying."
>-more-
>There was some disagreement yesterday about whether...the trade center
>towers had been designed to withstand an impact from an airliner filled
>with fuel.
>The engineer who said after the 1993 bombing that the towers could
>withstand a Boeing 707, Leslie Robertson, was not available for comment
>yesterday, a partner at his Manhattan firm said.
>"We're going to hold off on speaking to the media," said the partner,
>Rick Zottola, at Leslie E. Robertson Associates.
>"We never were asked to consider trying to protect the building from such
>a threat," said Mr. Cracchiolo, who was among those who coordinated the
>reconstruction after the 1993 bombing. "As structural engineers, there is
>nothing we could have done to protect the building from a direct impact
>from a plane as large as these."
>Melvin Schweitzer, a member of the Port Authority board of commissioners
>from 1993 to 1999, said, however, that the board
>repeatedly inquired about that possibility. "We were just told that
>architects had explained that the building was designed to withstand a
>jet," Mr. Schweitzer said.
>The architectural firm for the trade center, Minoru Yamasaki Associates
>of Rochester Hills, Mich., declined to answer specific
>questions about the collapse....
>Thanks to Chuck,
>-J
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