Good point on the power of momentum. But I wouldn't make that assumption about the Twin Towers construction. A severe fire can reduce the strength of steel by 90%. They just didn't figure on that scenario when they built it. Hard to imagine how one could build it to survive.
I think the Design of Towers definitely affected them. They were built to be wide, wide, open office spaces which meant less columns. The solution at the trade center were the outside of the building was a grid work of columns that supported 40% of the weight while the core columns were grouped into the center of the building.
there's videos where you can see the debris cloud go down, and then after you see some thin spikes or "spires" still remaining. These are the core columns, the strongest part of the building. a 70 story high section of the core column collapsed like 15 seconds after the rest of the building. Pretty crazy stuff. like a tree where all the branches were ripped away before the trunk fell.
Also, the modern design approach was to have inner (not core) columns supporting an exterior "curtain" wall. It was one of the only ways to achieve higher buildings without making them into ziggurats.
Good point on the power of momentum. But I wouldn't make that assumption about the Twin Towers construction. A severe fire can reduce the strength of steel by 90%. They just didn't figure on that scenario when they built it. Hard to imagine how one could build it to survive.
I think the Design of Towers definitely affected them. They were built to be wide, wide, open office spaces which meant less columns. The solution at the trade center were the outside of the building was a grid work of columns that supported 40% of the weight while the core columns were grouped into the center of the building.
there's videos where you can see the debris cloud go down, and then after you see some thin spikes or "spires" still remaining. These are the core columns, the strongest part of the building. a 70 story high section of the core column collapsed like 15 seconds after the rest of the building. Pretty crazy stuff. like a tree where all the branches were ripped away before the trunk fell.
Also, the modern design approach was to have inner (not core) columns supporting an exterior "curtain" wall. It was one of the only ways to achieve higher buildings without making them into ziggurats.