The
Commerce Department’s National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has obtained
access to all of the essential information needed for its
two-year federal building and fire safety investigation into
the World Trade Center (WTC) disaster of Sept. 11, 2001, NIST
Director Arden Bement Jr. today announced. NIST’s success
in gaining this information from a variety of organizations
and agencies is included in an update report presented at
the third meeting of the National
Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee. This
panel of experts advises the NIST Director on investigations
conducted under the NCST
Act.
Details
about NIST’s access to the information needed for the
WTC investigation, as well as the status of the investigation’s
progress since an interim technical report was issued in May
2003, may be found in a
41-page document (.pdf) available online at http://wtc.nist.gov.
“Since
our interim technical report in May, the WTC investigation
has achieved a number of milestones critical to its successful
completion next fall,” Bement said. “These accomplishments
bring us even closer to achieving the desired outcome for
our overall response to the WTC disaster: improvements in
the way people design, construct, maintain and use buildings,
especially high-rise buildings.”
The public
update released today details how the WTC investigation team
has:
- completed
the selection process for all major contractors and experts
to augment NIST’s in-house capabilities for the investigation;
-
built comprehensive models for analyzing the most probable
structural collapse sequences (from aircraft impact to collapse
initiation) and simplified models to supplement results
from detailed models;
-
completed the majority of the analysis of the recovered
WTC structural steel in its possession;
- conducted
nearly all of the laboratory fire tests on mockups of typical
WTC workstations to provide data for fire dynamics computer
models;
- initiated
work on fire endurance testing of typical WTC floor systems
based on the ASTM E 119 standard under both specified and
as-built conditions;
- collected
and is analyzing some 6,200 photographic images and 5,800
video clips to document the evolution of fire and smoke
conditions and damage to the WTC buildings;
- received
all necessary approvals for and has commenced its first-person
data collection effort involving WTC occupants, families
of victims and first responders;
- progressed
in its analysis of building and fire codes and practices,
including a detailed review of the extraordinarily large
volume of documents on the design, construction, operation,
maintenance and modifications to the WTC towers and WTC
7;
- been
developing a detailed chronology of events related to the
emergency response and evacuation efforts that occurred
on Sept. 11, 2001;
- sorted,
categorized and begun analyzing first responder communications
data in order to better define the events of Sept. 11, 2001,
and document the performance of the emergency communication
system;
- obtained,
reviewed and analyzed data on active fire protection systems
installed in the WTC towers and WTC 7 (specifically the
sprinkler and standpipe systems, the fire alarm systems
and the smoke management systems) to evaluate their design,
capabilities and performance; and
- conducted—concurrently
with the investigation—11 research and development
projects (including work on fire safety design and retrofit
of structures, and the emergency use of elevators) and a
dissemination and technical assistance program as part of
NIST’s overall WTC response plan.
Under
the NCST Act, signed into law in October 2002, NIST is authorized
to investigate major building failures. The NIST investigations
will establish the likely technical causes of the building
failure and evaluate the technical aspects of emergency response
and evacuation procedures in the wake of such failures.
As a
non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s
Technology Administration, NIST develops and promotes measurement,
standards and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate
trade and improve the quality of life.
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