Abstract
The collapse of the World Trade Center towers was initiated by the impact of the upper falling part onto the underlying intact story. At the moment of impactthe velocity of the upper part must have decreased. The fact that no velocity decrease can be discerned in the videos of the early motion of the tower top has been recently exploited to claim that the collapse explanation generally accepted within the structural mechanics community was invalid. This claim is here shown to be groundless. Calculations show that the velocity drop is far too small to be perceptible in amateur video records and is much smaller than the inevitable error of such video records.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 005101QEM |
Journal | Journal of Engineering Mechanics |
Volume | 137 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 15 2010 |
Keywords
- Collapse
- Damage
- Impact
- Structural dynamics
- Structural monitoring
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering