We all have seen the twin towers fall due to the hijacked plane crash and that incident is something hard to forget. There was a structural engineer who briefly explained it in steps.
W. Gene Corley was a suburban, Chicago structural engineer
who was famous for the cases on
- the fatal 1993 fire that occurred during the FBI's raid of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas
- the bombing and collapse of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City during 1995
- the 1999 collapse of a construction crane at Milwaukee's Miller Park.
Corley’s Statements
W. Gene Corley was a reserved person who didn’t boast his
achievements. A similar case happened during the twin tower collapse on September
11th. When the hijacked 767 Boeing jets crashed on the Twin Towers,
the building did not collapse in the beginning.
Corley was at Skokie office when the accident occurred and
his immediate suggestion was to put the fires off. He guessed that the
buildings will collapse if they didn’t get the fire out.
Why Did The 110-Story Building Fell?
When the hijacked planes crashed, their fuel tanks ruptured,
causing a fire. This extremely hot fire weakened the building’s steel and that
became the main reason for the Trade Centre’s collapse. But the incident
was not that simple.
The One World Trade Centre stood for around 1 hour and 40
minutes where the Two World Trade Centre couldn’t stand for more than 40
minutes. What did the engineers do that resulted in around 3000 victims but at
the same time stood long enough to save 25000 lives?
Vigorous Investigation
Corley and a team of 23 specialists in Civil Engineering
were appointed to investigate furthermore on the collapse of the towers. This
action was not only to find the root cause for the building’s collapse. It was
to ensure avoiding future catastrophes in advance as America was facing a war
over terrorism.
Reason Behind The Fall
After the investigations were over by April, the next year,
the results were declared. The fall of the buildings was due to the rupture in
exterior, interior columns as well as the steel due to the fire that caused
heat of 1100 to 1800 Fahrenheit. A heat of 2000 Fahrenheit was sufficient to
collapse a skyscraper to the scratch.
Due to the delay in the fall, some important images and
videos went viral of the fall, capturing the live moment.
Changes After This Incident
Even after such a disaster, The United States of America
shines. They rise after every time they fall, with new glory. So, they decided
to construct monuments that are fireproof. However, Corley and his team couldn’t
determine which part of the building led to the entire collapse.
Written by - Keerthana Lakshmi
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