Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster.
Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center
Towers. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation
of the World Trade Center Disaster.
(62549 K)
Gann, R. G.; Hamins, A.; McGrattan, K. B.; Mulholland,
G. W.; Nelson, H. E.; Ohlemiller, T. J.; Pitts, W. M.;
Prasad, K. R.
NIST NCSTAR 1-5; 240 p. September 2005.
Keywords:
World Trade Center; high rise buildings; building
collapse; disasters; fire safety; fire investigations;
terrorists; terrorism; reconstruction; fire models;
validation; fire tests; combustibles; interior finishes;
interior furnishings; heat transfer; simulation; thermal
response
Abstract:
The collapses of the World Trade Center towers on
September 11, 2001, resulted from a combination of
aircraft impact damage and the ensuing fires. This
report documents: The information obtained on the
factors that affected the nature, duration and location
of the fires and how this was obtained; The development
and validation of the fire model used to simulate the
fires; Descriptions of the most likely fires, as they
were reconstructed; and The modeling and validation of
the heat transfer from the fires to the buildings'
structural members.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899