Non-animated Visualization Aids to Assist in Understanding the Demolitions of the World Trade Center Twin Towers

by Anon, November 27, 2007

Abstract: The volume of jet fuel that remained in each of the World Trade Center Twin Towers after the initial fireballs on September 11, 2001, would fit into a mid-size U-Haul® rental truck. This brief paper will quantify the volume of jet fuel that entered each of the Twin Towers and provide non-animated visualization aids of comparably-sized familiar items to assist the reader in understanding that this volume of jet fuel was inconsequential relative to the massive size of the Twin Towers, which were two of the largest buildings in the world.

Introduction

The National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) issued their Final Report on the Collapse of the World Trade Center Towers (NCSTAR 1) in September 2005, which included Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers (NCSTAR 1-5) and Computer Simulation of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers (NCSTAR 1-5F). NIST identified jet fuel as one of the two primary causes of the demolition of each of the Twin Towers (the other being the airplane impact).

In June 2007, Purdue University released a “scientifically based”, “state-of-the-art animated visualization” in support of the NIST reports. Purdue’s press release described this quantity of jet fuel as “a flash flood of flaming liquid”1. Purdue’s earlier press release from September 2006, announcing the completion of the simulation on which this animated visualization is based, includes the grossly erroneous statement, “We believe most of the structural damage from such aircraft collisions is caused by the mass of the fluid on the craft, which includes the fuel. Damage resulting solely from the metal fuselage, engines and other aircraft parts is not as great as that resulting from the mass of fluids on board. You could think of the aircraft as a sausage skin. Its mass is tiny compared to the plane's fluid contents.”2 In reality, and according to NIST, the mass of the empty Boeing 767-200ER airplane was 183,500 pounds.3 According to NIST’s detailed quantitative report, Computer Simulations of the Fires, the greatest amount of jet fuel entered WTC 1 (North Tower), weighing 57,922 pounds, only 32% of the mass of the empty airplane.

Unfortunately, many, if not most, Americans remain under the mistaken impression that the Twin Towers were demolished, in large part, by the “flash flood of flaming liquid,” which purportedly demolished several 2’x4’ thick-walled steel box columns and melted, or at least substantially weakened the steel structure of the buildings. The objective of this brief paper is to correct that impression by providing non-animated visualization aids of comparably- sized familiar items to assist the reader in understanding how inconsequential this volume of jet fuel is relative to the massive size of the Twin Towers, which were two of the largest buildings in the world.

Just How Much Jet Fuel Entered Each of the Twin Towers?