? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? {{B}}Can Buildings Be Designed to Resist Terrorist
Attack?{{/B}} ? ?In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the
World Trade Center, structural engineers are trying hard to solve a question
that a month ago would have been completely unthinkable: Can building be
designed to withstand catastrophic blasts inflicted by terrorists? ?
?Ten days after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural
engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for
Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) headquartered at UB traveled to ground
zero as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Visiting
the site as part of an MCEER reconnaissance visit. They spent two days beginning
the task of formulating ideas about how to design such structures and to search
for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged, but still are
standing. ? ?"Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and
look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that
are still standing, but that sustained damage," said M. Bruneau. Ph. D. "Our
immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those
buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake
engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve
enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks," he
added. ? ?Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate in
startling detail the monumental damage inflicted on the Workd Trade Center
towers and buildings in the vicinity. One building a block away from the towers
remains standing, but was badly damaged. "This building is many meters away from
the World Trade Center and yet we see a column there that used to be part of
that building," explained A. Whittaker. Ph. D. "The column became a missile that
shot across the road through the window and through the floor." ?
?The visit to the area also revealed some surprises, according to the
engineers. For example, the floor flaming system in one of the adjacent
buildings was quite rugged, allowing floors that were pierced by tons of fairing
debris to remain intact. "Highly redundant ductile framing systems may provide a
simple, but robust strategy for blast resistance," he added. Other strategies
may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a
load-beating column fails. "We also need a better understanding of the mechanism
of collapse." said A. Whitaker. "We need to find out what causes a building to
collapse and how you can predict it." ? ?A. Reinhorn, Ph. D. noted
that "earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of many buildings in the past.
It induces dynamic response and extremely high stresses and deformations in
structural components. Solutions developed for earthquake resistant design may
be directly applicable to blast engineering and terrorist resistant design. Part
of our mission now at UB is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones
where none exist at present." ? ?aftermath n. 后果，结 ?
?in the vicinity 附近 ? ?debris n. 碎片 ?
?reconnaissance n. 勘察 ? ?ductile adj.
可伸展的，易变形的
The project funded by the National Science Foundation______.
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? {{B}}Can Buildings Be Designed to Resist Terrorist
Attack?{{/B}} ? ?In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the
World Trade Center, structural engineers are trying hard to solve a question
that a month ago would have been completely unthinkable: Can building be
designed to withstand catastrophic blasts inflicted by terrorists? ?
?Ten days after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural
engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for
Earthquake Engineering Research (MCEER) headquartered at UB traveled to ground
zero as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Visiting
the site as part of an MCEER reconnaissance visit. They spent two days beginning
the task of formulating ideas about how to design such structures and to search
for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged, but still are
standing. ? ?"Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and
look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that
are still standing, but that sustained damage," said M. Bruneau. Ph. D. "Our
immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those
buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake
engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve
enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks," he
added. ? ?Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate in
startling detail the monumental damage inflicted on the Workd Trade Center
towers and buildings in the vicinity. One building a block away from the towers
remains standing, but was badly damaged. "This building is many meters away from
the World Trade Center and yet we see a column there that used to be part of
that building," explained A. Whittaker. Ph. D. "The column became a missile that
shot across the road through the window and through the floor." ?
?The visit to the area also revealed some surprises, according to the
engineers. For example, the floor flaming system in one of the adjacent
buildings was quite rugged, allowing floors that were pierced by tons of fairing
debris to remain intact. "Highly redundant ductile framing systems may provide a
simple, but robust strategy for blast resistance," he added. Other strategies
may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a
load-beating column fails. "We also need a better understanding of the mechanism
of collapse." said A. Whitaker. "We need to find out what causes a building to
collapse and how you can predict it." ? ?A. Reinhorn, Ph. D. noted
that "earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of many buildings in the past.
It induces dynamic response and extremely high stresses and deformations in
structural components. Solutions developed for earthquake resistant design may
be directly applicable to blast engineering and terrorist resistant design. Part
of our mission now at UB is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones
where none exist at present." ? ?aftermath n. 后果，结 ?
?in the vicinity 附近 ? ?debris n. 碎片 ?
?reconnaissance n. 勘察 ? ?ductile adj.
可伸展的，易变形的
The project funded by the National Science Foundation______.
A.was first proposed by some engineers at UB B.took about two days to complete C.was to investigate the damage caused by the terrorist attack D.was to find out why some buildings could survive the blasts
单选集
