by Qutb » Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:33 pm
1 Tal, thanks.<br><br>That's a 17-story, semi-collapsed building. The WTC had 110. I see that the <!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://www.controlled-demolition.com/default.asp?reqLocId=7&reqItemId=20030225133807" target="top">tallest</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> building ever demolished with explosives was a 33-story one. Here's how that happened:<br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Under CDI direction, Homrich/NASDI’s<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong> 21 man crew needed three months to investigate the complex and four months to complete preparations for CDI’s implosion design</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. During that period, the lower two basements of the structure were filled with engineered fill and the perimeter basement walls bermed to 1st basement level with soil to support perimeter walls which would surely have failed under soil and hydrostatic loads once the horizontal support of the Hudson’s internal structure was removed by the implosion.<br><br>Double column rows installed in the structure between vertical construction phases, internal brick shear walls, x-bracing, 70 elevators and 10 stairwells created an extremely stiff frame. Columns weighing over 500 lb/ft, having up to 7.25 inch thick laminated steel flanges and 6 inch thick webs, defied commercially available shaped charge technology. CDI analyzed each column, determined the actual load it carried and then used cutting torches to scarf-off steel plates in order to use smaller shaped charges to cut the remaining steel. CDI wanted to keep the charges as small as possible to reduce air over pressure that could break windows in adjacent properties.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>CDI’s 12 person loading crew took twenty four days to place 4,118 separate charges in 1,100 locations on columns on nine levels of the complex. Over 36,000 ft of detonating cord and 4,512 non-electric delay elements were installed in CDI’s implosion initiation system, some to create the 36 primary implosion sequence and another 216 micro-delays to keep down the detonation overpressure from the 2,728 lb of explosives which would be detonated during the demolition</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->.<br><br>Even with all the precautions to control overpressure, the age, existing cracks, and poor condition of glazing windows in vacant structures on the north, east and west sides of the J.L. Hudson complex, window breakage was a concern. CDI had seven glass company crews on standby to handle any problems. Although Homrich/NASDI has placed over 2,000 yards of soil over utilities in the four adjacent streets, emergency utility crews were also standby "just in case."<br><br>When the button was pressed at 5:47 PM, assembled officials, contractors, former Hudson patrons and an estimated crowd of 20,000 watched the store begin to pivot at its southwest corner. The controlled collapse moved north and east through the structure, folding the walls inward.<br><br>When the dust cleared, a debris pile averaging 35 ft tall and as high as 60 ft tall where the tower had stood was all that remained of the venerable Detroit department store. Woodward and Farmer Streets were clear of debris , while it would take a couple of days to clear the pile of debris hanging over narrow Grand River Ave.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>Imagine how much preparation would be required to do this with the WTC - and at the same time, making sure no one notices anything! I know there were bomb dogs in the WTC, because they were reportedly not there one of the last days before 9/11. But all the other days, when they <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>were</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> there - surely they would detect all these explosives! I don't know if you'd need more than the 2,728 lb and 4,118 charges in 1,100 locations they used for the JL Hudson department store, if you wanted to demolish the WTC. Since the WTC towers were much larger, I would intuitively think you would need more, but maybe not. Still, that's a lot of explosives...<br><br>I'll stick to the pancake theory, thank you. <p><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:black;font-family:century gothic;font-size:x-small;"><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Qutb means "axis," "pole," "the center," which contains the periphery or is present in it. The qutb is a spiritual being, or function, which can reside in a human being or several human beings or a moment. It is the elusive mystery of how the divine gets delegated into the manifest world and obviously cannot be defined.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><br></p><i></i>