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ANSYS model of inward bowing of the east face of WTC 2 in the neighborhood of the 80th floor at 2540 seconds after initial impact (This image is from the same source as that for the previous slide.)

NIST’sProbable Collapse Sequence for WTC2
1. Aircraft Impact Damage:
a. Aircraft impact severed a number of exterior columns on the South wall from floors 78 to 84, and the wall section above the impact zone moved downward.
b. After breaching the building’s perimeter, the aircraft continued to penetrate into the building, severing floor framing and core columns at the Southeast corner of the core. Fireproofing was damaged from the impact area through the East half of the core up to the North and East perimeter walls. The floor truss seat connections over about 1/4 to 1/2 of the East side of the core were severed on floors 80 and 81 and over about 1/3 of the East perimeter wall on floor 83.
c. Aircraft impact severed a few columns near the East corner of the North wall between floors 80 and 82.
d. The impact damage to the exterior walls resulted in redistribution of severed column loads, mostly to the columns adjacent to the impact zones. The impact damage to the core columns resulted in redistribution of severed column loads mostly to other intact core columns and the East exterior wall. The hat truss resisted the downward movement of the South wall, and rotated about the East-West axis.
e. As a result of the aircraft impact damage, the core carried 6 percent less gravity loads after impact and the North face carried 10 percent less loads. The East face carried 24 percent more gravity load, while the West face and the South face carried 3 percent and 2 percent more gravity load, respectively.
f. After impact, the core was leaning toward the East and South perimeter walls. The perimeter walls acted to restrain the core structure.

2. Effects of Subsequent Fires and Impact Damaged Fireproofing:
A. Thermal Weakening of the Core:
a. Several of the undamaged core columns near the damaged and severed core columns developed high plastic and creep strains over the duration the building stood, since both temperatures and stresses were high in the core area. The plastic and creep strains exceeded thermal expansion in the core columns.
b. The core continued to tilt toward the East and South due to the combination of column shortening (due to plasticity, creep, and buckling) and the failure of column splices at the hat truss in the Southeast corner.
c. As a result of thermal weakening (and subsequent to impact), the East wall carried about 5 percent more gravity loads and the core carried about 2 percent less loads. The other three walls carried between 0 and 3 percent less loads.

B. Thermal Weakening of the Floors:
a. Floors 79 to 83 weakened with increasing temperatures over time on the long-span floors on the East side and sagged.
b. Floor sagging induced inward pull forces on the East wall columns. 
c. About an additional 1/3 of the connections to the East perimeter wall on floor 83 failed due to thermal weakening of the vertical supports.

C. Thermal Weakening of the East Wall:
a. East wall columns bowed inward as they were subjected to high temperatures and inward pull forces in addition to axial loads.
b. Inward bowing of the East wall columns increased with time.

3. Collapse Initiation
a. The inward bowing of the East wall induced column instability, which progressed rapidly horizontally across the entire East face.
b. The East wall unloaded and tried to redistribute the loads via the hat truss to the weakened core and via the spandrels to the adjacent North and South walls.
c. The entire section of the building above the impact zone began tilting as a rigid block (all four faces; not only the bowed and buckled East face) to the East (about 7o to 8o) and South (about 3o to 4o) as column instability progressed rapidly from the East wall along the adjacent North and South walls. The building section above impact continued to rotate to the East as it began to fall downward, and rotated to at least 20 to 25 degrees.
d. The change in potential energy due to downward movement of building mass above the buckled columns exceeded the strain energy that could be absorbed by the structure. Global collapse then ensued.

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