Reaction of Ceiling Tile Systems to Shocks. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World Trade Center Disaster.
Reaction of Ceiling Tile Systems to Shocks. Federal
Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the World
Trade Center Disaster.
(2491 K)
Gann, R. G.; Riley, M. A.; Repp, J. M.; Whittaker, A.
S.; Reinhorn, A. M.; Hough, P. A.
NIST NCSTAR 1-5D; 146 p. September 2005.
Keywords:
World Trade Center; high rise buildings; building
collapse; disasters; fire safety; fire investigations;
terrorists; terrorism; ceilings; ceiling tiles;
experiments; aircraft impact; concretes; floors; damage
Abstract:
The degree of damage to the ceiling tile systems of the
World Trade Center towers following the aircraft impacts
on September 11, 2001, could have affected the rate at
which the ensuing fires heated the steel- trussed
concrete slab floor systems above. Accordingly, a series
of shaking table tests was conducted to estimate the
magnitude of distress to the ceiling tile systems that
would result in substantial displacement of ceiling
tiles. Ceiling tile systems indicative of those used in
the core and tenant spaces were subjected to both single
and complex impulses of varying magnitude. The systems
resisted significant damage up to about 1g applied to
the test platform, corresponding to about 2.5g to 3g at
the ceiling frame. The data suggest that major system
failure would occur at impulse values near 4g to 5g at
the ceiling frame.
