Fire plays a devastating role : World Trade Center building performance study

The 9/11 terrorist incidents caused colossal destruction and significant damage to a number of buildings in the World Trade Center (WTC) vicinity of New York City (NYC), N.Y. It was the worst building disaster in history resulting in the largest loss of life from building collapse in North America. Following the disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Structural Engineering Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (SEI/ASCE), NYC and several other federal agencies and organizations established a team of experts to investigate the collapse and damage to the buildings. The building performance study (BPS) was led by FEMA, SEI and ASCE. The BPS team consisted of experts in tall buildings, steel structures, connections, fire engineering, blast effects and structural investigations.1The BPS team visited Ground Zero, surveyed the site, landfill and steel recycling centres, reviewed videotape records, eyewitness accounts, conducted interviews with building design teams and performed analyses using computer models. Based on this information, the BPS team compiled a report that was presented to the Science Committee of the U.S. Congress in May 2002.2 A brief overview of the factors leading to the collapse of the Twin Towers, the extent of damage and some of the key recommendations from the BPS, are presented here.Les incidents terroristes du 11 septembre 2001 ont caus\ue9 une destruction colossale et d?autres dommages consid\ue9rables \ue0 plusieurs b\ue2timents voisins des tours du World Trade Center, \ue0 New York. Il s?agissait du pire sinistre ayant affect\ue9 un immeuble dans l?histoire, et son bilan en pertes de vie a \ue9t\ue9 le plus \ue9lev\ue9 parmi tous les \ue9croulements de b\ue2timents jamais survenus en Am\ue9rique du Nord. \uc0 la suite de cette catastrophe, la Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), le Structural Engineering Institute de l?American Society of Civil Engineers (SEI/ASCE), la ville de New York, ainsi que plusieurs autres agences et organismes f\ue9d\ue9raux ont mis sur pied une \ue9quipe d?experts afin d?examiner comment sont survenus les effondrements et d?\ue9tudier les dommages subis par les b\ue2timents. L?\ue9tude de la performance du b\ue2timent (\uc9PB) a \ue9t\ue9 dirig\ue9e par la FEMA, le SEI et l?ASCE. L?\ue9quipe de l?\uc9PB \ue9tait form\ue9e d?experts en b\ue2timents de grande hauteur, en structures d?acier, en assemblages, en s\ue9curit\ue9 incendie, en effets de souffle et en examens structuraux. L?\ue9quipe de l?\uc9PB a visit\ue9 Ground Zero, inspect\ue9 le site, les lieux de d\ue9charge et les centres de recyclage d?acier, examin\ue9 les enregistrements sur bande magn\ue9toscopique ainsi que les d\ue9positions des t\ue9moins oculaires, dirig\ue9 des entrevues avec les \ue9quipes de conception des b\ue2timents, et r\ue9alis\ue9 des analyses avec mod\ue8les. D?apr\ue8s l?information ainsi g\ue9n\ue9r\ue9e, l?\ue9quipe de l?\uc9PB a r\ue9dig\ue9 un rapport qui a \ue9t\ue9 ensuite pr\ue9sent\ue9 devant le Science Committee du Congr\ue8s am\ue9ricain, en mai 2002. Nous pr\ue9sentons un bref aper\ue7u des facteurs ayant men\ue9 \ue0 l?effondrement des tours jumelles et de l?\ue9tendue des dommages subis, et de certaines recommandations fondamentales issues de l?\uc9PB.Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye