WTC7 Simulation Evaluation - World Trade Center 7 Collapse Research Study

Simulated with completely new developed software designed for structural simulation, this revision of the old WTC 7 simulation attempt serves as validation case for the BCB software.

New in this simulation compared to the old one:
- Multiple constraints per connection are used to represent individual degrees of freedom (DOF)
- Breaking thresholds are computed from real world parameters
- Correct steel thicknesses and beam dimensions are used
- Plastic deformation is now simulated

While this simulation of World Trade Center 7 is still not 'perfect' it resembles much better the specific characteristics observed in the documentation of reality than the older model. This simulation confirms mostly the findings of NIST, it is safe to say that the columns 79 to 81 were the first columns which gave way because the removal of other columns led to much different collapses. More than that is hardly determinable, such a system behaves just to chaotic to tell what exact connection failed first. In this regard NIST might be wrong by declaring a specific failure point. However, I consider this not being an important question given the fact how compromised the structure around these three columns must have been exposed to fire for hours, a situation beyond any imaginable safety design specification.

This is a private project. There are no third parties involved. There is no scientific report available. No peer review has taken place. Thanks for watching.

Simulation Stats
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Element count: 28228
Constraint count: 702962
Simulation time: 10 h + 1 h building constraints
Render time: real-time

Model Specs
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Group 'Concrete' mass: 100654 t and 93 kg
Group 'Steel beams' mass: 22942 t and 844 kg
Group 'Steel trusses' mass: 765 t and 292 kg
Group 'Facade' mass: 4341 t and 782 kg
Group 'Facade roof' mass: 147 t and 608 kg
Total mass: 128851 t and 619 kg

Credits & Links
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Simulation and visualization by Kostack Studio

(Keywords: H2020, InvestEUresearch, EU-funded research, science)
at Laurea University of Applied Sciences LUAS, Finland:

[Roughrideyy]

Jesus Christ what’s up with the mania of “truthers” in the comment section. It seems like the majority of y’all can’t even argue actually factual information and choose to blindly follow random people on the internet who clearly are pseudo-intellectuals with 0 logical reasoning whatsoever instead of actually taking the time to look at officially published reports, witness statements, or just general knowledge on how structural collapses work.

And I hate to say this again but an opinion is not a factual statement, therefore, stop making baseless claims about “cOnTroLlEd dEmOlItIon” when it’s VERY obvious that you have no logical reasoning or any evidence-citing skills whatsoever.
Oh and the evidence that you try to prove your already baseless claim literally contradicts everything you just said.

Jfc y’all you need to actually go back to school or something or go seek a therapist cause you REALLY need to seek help.

[barskarakas]

Wtc7 is the first building in the history that collapsed due to sadness

[meganandremmie]

this was my Daddy's building. he is still here with us today, he made it out in time.

[enmenduranna]

This is very easily explained: the walls of the building were made of toilet paper reinforced with poorly glued toothpicks, and the fact that the building collapsed at the speed of free fall onto its own foundations is a miracle.

[stanjohnson]

Superb modeling. Major props to the people who worked so hard to put that together.

It's a shame that the simulation doesn't quite match the footage, but we're all human.

[TheHead]

Who made this film, Silverstein productions?

[IAMJASONii]

Why do demolition company need explosives when all they have to do is set a fire and damage a few steel beams! Then wait for a few hours!

[JulietsMan]

This doesnt even remotely resemble the actual collapse.

[lukeslife]

if only the simulated collapse matched the real footage then i might of believed it

[neoexplains]

Honest question with wish for honest answer: is'nt it inaccurate to simulate it with the building beeing completely empty. The weigh should be of because there was furniture in it and also in this simulation there are things missing from the building like the heavy elevator and walls inside the offices

[bbenjaminfan]

*Sigh* go watch the video footage of building 7 collapsing again, and when you generate a simulation that actually matches what we see in the footage, let me know. This looks nothing like the footage of the collapse

[lavernadavey]

In actual footage of the buildings collapse you can actually see the exterior near the roof bend into a v shape before collapsing, there's also another tape showing the back of the building collapsing, in that footage you could see the building tilt before hitting the ground.

[theonlytrueorange]

it went straight down, it didn't flop over

[blaubar]

This simulation does not fit to the original footage. Same problem we see at the NIST models. Reality ist obviously different.

[tediousmaximus]

Nice computer graphics, but still does not look anything like the real collapse footage taken on the day. WTC 7 neatly collapsed into its own footprint and hardly touched the buildings along side it. Also, where are the elevators and stair wells?

[HYNDCW]

Doesn't look like the footage from that day.

[matthewmeyer]

This looks nothing like what actually happened

[jamespenny]

This video shows what the collapse would look like if it was initiated by the failure of column 79 and it doesn't look anything at all like the actual collapse footage which shows the building being expertly dropped into it's own basement. For WTC 7 to fall the way it did, all the columns would have to have been "taken out" at the same time, because as the footage shows, the steel structure gave NO resistance to the fall.

[nunnaurbiznez]

Although this seems to show ways in which WT7 could fail catastrophically, it does not show a view which exemplifies the the way it fell so evenly from both sides. Each view shows the inside failing with the outer walls falling together as a unit.

[jesustyronechrist]

So I'm a bit confused here:
- How did you simulate the initial "collapse"? As in did you simulate softening of the steel by fires on the lower floors?
- How does a lower floor collapsing make all the floors above it collapse? Does a floor collapsing rip apart the nearby structural column or what?
- How likely is a building of this size to collapse this neatly due to the damage mentioned above?