Creative Speculation

Last edited Thu Oct 31, 2013, 11:52 AM - Edit history (2)

You don't make any sense because you don't know what you're talking about.

We are not discussing NIST's model of collapse initiation and propagation. We are discussing the fact that NIST's model bears no resemblance to reality, because it shows the perimeter structure folding up like a wet paper bag and we can see in the videos that it doesn't do that.

If you would bother to look at the 30-second video of the sims, you would see that the east wall starts folding up like a wet paper bag 3 seconds before the building starts "going down".

The 1935 demo took 1500 pounds of thermite. So what? Jonathan Cole can cut a substantial steel girder with 2 pounds of scientifically-formulated sulfur-enhanced thermite.

Why couldn't thermite achieve sudden onset? You're claiming that fires can achieve sudden onset through a process of heating the steel. Why can't thermite achieve sudden onset through the same process?

There is a rational reason for sudden onset: to maintain control. If you want to bring a building down symmetrically, you have to weaken the columns symmetrically, and that means sudden onset. If you had gradual weakening you would run the risk of one part starting to collapse before another, and that could cause chaotic happenings.

Most structural drawings show H-beams for the columns, because that's what they were. Most of them eliminate the flange plates on Column 79, even though we know they were there (See NCSTAR 1-9 Fig. 2-23)

NIST says that on lower stories "many of the column sizes were increased through use of built-up shapes" and provides pictures of welded on flange plates and web plates that make the columns into hollow boxes.

Unfortunately, NIST does not tell us how many of the column sizes were increased.