World Trade Center Post-Disaster Fire Reconnaissance and Perishable Data Collection

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The total collapse of both 110-story tall towers of the World Trade Center (WTC) as a result of the fires initiated by the commercial passenger jet collisions on September 11, 2001, raises a number of important scientific questions regarding the performance of high-rise buildings in response to such impacts and the resulting fires. For the fire safety of current and future high-rise buildings, it is important to determine why the WTC towers collapsed in the way they did and in the relatively brief period of time they did. To make such a determination and to improve the design and construction of high-rise buildings against catastrophic collapse, comprehensive studies of the WTC collapses will be needed in the future. For such studies to be valid, reliable information and data will be needed on many aspects of the WTC towers. The purpose of this project is to collect perishable data on the fire protection engineering aspects of the WTC affecting the fire and collapse that may be lost as the material and debris are removed from the site and as these events fade from the news. The PI is collaborating with Prof. Astaneh-Asl of the University of California at Berkeley who is collecting perishable data on the structural engineering aspects of the WTC. Together, the data obtained in these projects will be of critical importance to future analyses of the WTC collapses.