The indelible images of planes crashing into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 are baked into our minds, but questions remain as to what exactly perpetuated the structural damage that set off the landmark’s subsequent implosion.
A team of researchers and scientists at Purdue University’s Rosen Center For Advanced Computing, a division of the university’s Information Technology department, set out to find the answer. The team spent two and a half years working on a 3D animation and simulation project that would depict, using scientific evidence, exactly what brought the Twin Towers down. The difference between this and other computer simulations is the use of 3D technology and animation, which allows the average lay person, not just an engineer, to visualize for themselves what exactly happened, according to Chris Hoffman, one of the key Purdue faculty members behind the project.
The simulation was conducted to help civil engineers better understand from a scientific perspective what exactly happened to the Towers so they can ultimately prevent failures and design safer buildings. The simulation, which initially took about 80 hours using a high-performance computer containing 16 processors, concluded it was the weight of the 10,000 gallons of jet fuel that ultimately was responsible for most of the damage. The first simulation shows how the plane tore through several stories of the North Tower within a half-second and found that the weight of the fuel acted like a flash flood of flaming liquid, taking out steel structural columns and removing fireproofing materials, which ultimately led to its collapse.
The National Science Foundation helped fund the simulation research. The Purdue team conducted an earlier simulation to examine the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. The team plans to release additional simulations in the upcoming months to depict how the structures were affected by the extreme heat.
We looked at a number of sources to determine this year's greenest cars, from KBB to automotive trade magazines to environmental organizations. These 14 cars emerged as being great at either stretching fuel or reducing carbon footprint.
Researchers at MIT and Sandia National Labs have observed a reaction in lithium-air batteries that could help improve the design of these cells for electric vehicles and other applications.
Healthcare might seem to be an unlikely target application for the Internet of Things technology, but recent developments show small ways that big-data is going to make an impact on patient care moving into the future.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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