Why hasn't there been a movement to redesign skyscrapers after the fall of the Twin Towers in 9/11...?

Question

After all, the collapse of the buildings was attributed to fire from the airplanes hitting the towers. If fires can bring down large steel structures easier than previously thought by scientists and engineers, you'd expect that there would be a rush to shore up other existing buildings and that new buildings would not be made along the same plans as previous, since fires in skyscrapers can be caused by other things than aircraft. Yet oddly, I see no movement in that direction...???

Answer 1

Designs are constantly upgraded and evolve with new building codes. You can bet that 9/11 changed a few building codes. Other buildings are not tall enough to be hit in the same manner.  The World Trade Center had unique construction and was never duplicated, to the best of my knowledge.

Answer 2

Fire alone is not usually enough to do serious structural damage. Fires tend to start small and get fought by fire fighters and the sprinkler systems in buildings, and the structural steel is protected by fire-resistant cladding (usually gypsum or similar), In the WTC terrorist attacks, the planes not only smashed structural supports, but also blew the fire cladding off the steel girders, started fires that were huge and impossible to fight, and destroyed the sprinkler systems. I doubt there's much that could be done to protect any skyscraper against a fully-fuelled passenger jet smashing into it at high speed, short of making the whole thing of heavily reinforced concrete (which would be too inflexible for a tall building anyway). Even designing a new skyscraper to withstand that would be difficult, much less retrofitting existing structures.

Answer 3

skyscrapers have been around for over 90 years. the twin towers are the only to have ever collapsed in history. they dont fall over during construction, fire, flood ,earthquakes or expositions. dont worry about it. that was just an anomaly. hey, wanna see a cool fire? this is the Windsor Tower after burning for 17-20 hours. it never collapsed. what you see falling is the outer glass and concrete peeling off to expose the super structure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqEQJ7lZT...

oh, by the way, the twin towers were designed to take a direct impact from a 707, the most common jumbo jet of the day.

dont call me a conspiracy theorist. i had the discovery channel as a kid. that was my favorite thing- "builders week". they used to run specials on sky scrapers. especially all of the design considerations for the twin towers. almost every skyscraper that has been built sense is based off of its super structure.  it really was built like a brickshithouse. that was general knowledge 10 years ago. why has everyone forgotten?

Answer 4

Just my bit on this subject

The emperor is NAKED!

Will AMERICA open their eyes and see the 9/11/2001 attack for what it was?

heavy stuff!

Answer 5

You raise a good point except for one thing-whom is going to pay for "shoring up" existing buildings ? The government-meaning YOU AND ME.

As for what happened no one foresaw a multi-ton jumbo jet 747 loaded with tons of jet fuel flying at 500 mph into a building. You aren't aware three floors in each building were taken out? The elevator house and air conditioning units on the roofs and within aided the  collapse. It was already proven fires burned at 2,000 + degrees, melting support steel.

The buildings were designed and built to withstand a 727 hitting them. 747's weren't even in existence when the towers were built.

I do agree with you-I doubt much can be done to conter act a mega ton bomb flying at 500 mph.