CAD/CAM Corner

Where you'll find the latest news and trends in the areas of CAD/CAM software, PLM, innovation, and product development.

Profile

About Me

RSS Feed

Add this blog to your RSS newsreader!

By Category

Blog

CAD/CAM Corner

« UGS Brings Synergy to Auto Mak... | Main | Dassault Pushes 3D Into the Ma... »

Friday, June 22, 2007

Purdue Team Simulates 9/11 WTC Attack

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.

Related entries in: Communities | Design News | Software/Hardware |

(Add your comments)

at 7/6/2007 8:02:29 AM, ggE said:
Since it happened, I have wondered what the comparative torque/impact load of the plane striking the building at speed, is compared to a high wind load. Due to t he plane breaking up and some of it passing through it must dissipate the impact much like a formula one racecar does when it comes apart during impact. As apposed to a blow from a blunt instrument.

at 12/21/2007 11:56:10 AM, FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS said:
Hi boys!<br>dcb3aec046a0bbd1b47a2a47073a6c3e

at 12/24/2007 3:05:48 AM, free mp3 said:
Great boys<br>38bef3afec888d51cb9ff3451c06ecc4

at 5/5/2008 11:23:52 AM, DeafBleadytat said:
Thank you for such good site. It is sorry that before him did not find

at 6/4/2008 11:18:15 AM, Joe said:
Sounds like a whitewash to me. Even freshman physics students can tell it's a sham. For some truth, see wtc7.net

at 6/9/2008 2:25:42 PM, Darrin Rice said:
Keep chuggin' the Kool-ade, Joe. Your puppet-masters are depending upon it for their ascendency to power, after which you'll be thrown under the bus. What the analysis shows is that a tank filled with 10,000 gallons of Jet-A acts as a blunt-force demolition instrument in the fractional seconds before the tanks rip apart from impact forces. I ran across an on-line video a couple years back of some guys firing a water-filled 16oz soft drink bottle out of a "spud gun". Their target? A 3/4" sheet of plywood. The result? Shredded plastic, a spray of water, and a gaping hole ripped through the plywood. A similar kind of effect could be created by taking a gallon plastic milk jug full of water, accelerating it to 350mph, and ramming into an unreinforced brick wall. The plastic would get shredded, but it would hold that gallon of water together just long enough to blow and amazing hole through the wall. Simply extrapolating that kind of dynamic by a factor of 10,000 gets you well into a region where you're doing catastrophic damage to structural steel members. Then, you take that 10,000 gallons of jet fuel getting sprayed all over everything, partially atomized in the interior of the structure, and then ignited... NOW you've got all the requisite elements for a VERY big, hot fire that, contrary to what reknowned PhD metallurgist Rosie O'Donnell said, WILL melt structural steel.

Post a comment

Design News Partner Zone

JUNE 26TH WEBCAST: Collaborative Requirements Engineering
Speed your innovation. Capture the "voice of the customer" and translate customer requests into user requirements that define new products. Find out why the new ENOVIA Requirements Management solution enables organizations to improve their overall global requirements management process. Read More

Mechatronics in action
Successful synergistic integration of controls, electronics, computers and mechanical systems is key to the 21st century design process. Unlock the secrets at the Mechatronics Zone!

Webcast: Sensor Know-How Now
Join our moderator Randy Frank and John Keating from Cognex and explore Solving Industrial Inspection Problems. Read More

Engineering Concept Conduit
Engineering Concept Conduit looks at new products and the components that make them exceptional. Each month we’ll look at a new electronic product and see what makes it tick from an engineering point of view. We’ll explore the design and engineering challenges for the product and examine the components that solved those challenges.

Light Matters: Systems Level Approach to HBLED illumination applications
Its good practice to apply a systems-level approach to high-brightness LED (HBLED) illumination applications. Minimally, the system includes the optical, thermal and electrical characteristics of the of the HBLED, the lens (if any) which is built-in to its package, secondary optics such as external plastic lenses/reflectors to direct the light as your application requires and power driver electronics. Read More