🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <bangers-0605011108410001@c5-95.xtlab.com>,
 bangers@burundanga.com (Mike Schneider) wrote:

>    Since you're so familiar with these types of documents, Steve, perhaps
> you could tell your interested audience what sort of blast-pressure is
> necessary to destroy a three-foot thick steel-reinforced concrete column.
> (The ANFO bomb detonated at The World Trade Center in New York was parked
> right next to such a column. The explosion ripped out several floors of
> the parking garage, but didn't even scuff the column.)

I was not aware that the buildings were built to the same standard or 
that the bombs were even close to the same size.

I had thought, perhaps incorrectly, that the columns in the World Trade 
Center were designed to support a hundred floor building above them of 
enourmous size and weight.  

I had also supposed the columns in the Federal building only had to 
support perhaps ten floors of a rather small high rise.

I had also thought that the bomb used at the WTC was about 1,500 pounds 
in a small van (about the size of a minivan) while the OKC bomb was on 
the order of 7,000 pounds according to interviews Tim McVeigh has given 
the media.

Perhaps, just perhaps, a smaller bomb against a stronger building would 
not do as much damange as a larger bomb against a smaller building.

As to your "didn't even scuff" comment: 

http://www.interpol.int/Public/Publications/ICPR/ICPR469_3.asp

"During the initial assessment of explosive damage to the complex, it 
became very clear that the structural integrity of Trade Tower Number 
One was at risk, and that the Vista Hotel would probably collapse within 
days if structural steel support was not in place as soon as possible."

--- Andy