NISTNCSTAR1-3A

Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the

World Trade Center Disaster

Contemporaneous Structural Steel

Specifications

William E. Luecke

Thomas A. Siewert

Frank W. Gayle

National Institute of Standards and Teciinology Technology Adminislration • U.S. Department of Commerce

NIST NCSTAR1-3A

Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of the

World Trade Center Disaster

Contemporaneous Structural Steel

Specifications

William E. Luecke

Thomas A. Siewert

Frank W. Gayle

Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory

National Institute of Standards and Technology

September 2005

U.S. Department of Commerce

Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary

Technology Administration

h/Jichelle O'Neill. Acting Under Secretary for Technology

National Institute of Standards and Technology

William Jeffrey, Director
Disclaimer No. 1

Certain commercial entities, equipment, products, or materials are identified in this document in order to describe a procedure or concept adequately or to trace the history of the procedures and practices used. Such identification is not intended to imply recommendation, endorsement, or implication that the entities, products, materials, or equipment are necessarily the best available for the purpose. Nor does such identification imply a finding of fault or negligence by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Disclaimer No. 2 The policy of NIST is to use the International System of Units (metric units) in all publications. In this document,

however, units are presented in metric units or the inch-pound system, whichever is prevalent in the discipline.

Disclaimer No. 3

Pursuant to section 7 of the National Construction Safety Team Act, the NIST Director has determined that certain evidence received by NIST in the course of this Investigation is "voluntarily provided safety-related information" that is "not directly related to the building failure being investigated" and that "disclosure of that information would inhibit the

voluntary provision of that type of information" (15 USC 7306c).

In addition, a substantial portion of the evidence collected by NIST in the course of the Investigation has been

provided to NIST under nondisclosure agreements.

Disclaimer No. 4 NIST takes no position as to whether the design or construction of a WTC building was compliant with any code

since, due to the destruction of the WTC buildings, NIST could not verify the actual (or as-built) construction, the

properties and condition of the materials used, or changes to the original construction made over the life of the

buildings. In addition, NIST could not verify the interpretations of codes used by applicable authorities in determining

compliance when implementing building codes. Where an Investigation report states whether a system was

designed or installed as required by a code provision, NIST has documentary or anecdotal evidence indicating

whether the requirement was met, or NIST has independently conducted tests or analyses indicating whether the requirement was met.

Use in Legal Proceedings

No part of any report resulting from a NIST investigation into a structural failure or from an investigation under the

National Construction Safety Team Act may be used in any suit or action for damages arising out of any matter mentioned in such report (15 USC 281a; as amended by P.L. 107-231).

National Institute of Standards and Technology National Construction Safety Team Act Report 1-3A

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Natl. Constr. Sfty. Tm. Act Rpt. 1-3A, 86 pages (September 2005)

CODEN: NSPUE2

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON: 2005

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov — Phone: (202) 512-1800 — Fax: (202) 512-2250

Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
Abstract

This report reviews the contemporaneous ( 1 960s era) steel and welding standards used to construct the

1 10-story World Trade Center (WTC) towers. It describes the major structural elements in the towers and

the many grades of steels relevant to the WTC investigation. Although ASTM International structural

steel standards have evolved since the towers were built, the changes are generally minor and not

significant for estimating mechanical properties.

Keywords: Steel, standards, tower structural design. World Trade Center.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 111
Abstract

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iv NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation
Table of Contents

Abstract iii

List of Figures vii

List of Tables ix

List of Acronyms and Abbreviations xi

Preface xiii

Executive Summary xxiii

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

LI Scope of Report 1

1 .2 Specification of Steel Grades (minimum yield strength) 2

1 .3 Units and Abbreviations 2

1 .4 Sources of Infonnation 2

Chapter 2 Tower Design - Structural Steel Documents 5

2.1 Structural Overview 5

2.1.1 Perimeter Columns 7

2.1.2 Core Columns 9

2.1.3 Flooring System 9

2.1.4 Floors 107 to 110 12

2.1.5 Impact Zone 13

2. 1 .6 Floors Involved in Post-Impact Fires 14

Chapter 3 Contemporaneous Steel Specifications 15

3.1 Introduction 15

3.2 Standards Called for in the Steel Contracts 15

3.2.1 Steels 16

3.2.2 Fasteners 16

3.3 Steels Used in Construction 20

3.3.1 Floor Trusses 21

3.3.2 Perimeter Columns and Spandrels 22

3.3.3 Core (Welded Box Columns) 27

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation v
Table of Contents

3.3.4 Core (Rolled Wide-Flange Shapes) 28

3.4 Sources of Infomiation 28

Chapter 4

Contemporaneous Construction Specifications 33

4.1 Introduction 33

4.2 Fabrication of the Various Components 33

4.2.1 Floor Trusses 33

4.2.2 Exterior Wall Columns and Spandrels 33

4.2.3 Core (Welded Box Columns) 34

4.2.4 Connections (Bolts and Welds) 35

4.2.5 Construction (On-site Assembly) 36

Chapter 5 References 39

5.1 References from Publicly Available Sources 39

5.2 Private Communications 41

5.3 References from Nonpublic Sources 43

Appendix A

Steel Companies Involved in the World Trade Center 47

Appendix B

Notes on ASTM Standards for Structural Steel 51

vi NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
List of Figures

Figure P-1. The eight projects in the federal building and fire safety investigation of the WTC

disaster xv

Figure 2-1 . Schematic diagram of the tower structure 5

Figure 2-2. WTC tower floor plan and column numbers 6

Figure 2-3. Cross-section of perimeter columns; sections with and without spandrels 7

Figure 2—4. Characteristic perimeter column panel consisting of three full coluirms connected by

three spandrels 7

Figure 2-5. Partial elevation of exterior bearing-wall frame showing exterior wall module

construction. Highlighted panel is three stories tall (36 ft) and spans four floors. Distance between panels has been exaggerated 8

Figure 2-6. Typical welded box members and rolled wide flange shapes used for core columns

betw een the 83rd and 86th floors (to scale) 10

Figure 2-7. Core column layout in WTC towers 10

Figure 2-8. Schematic diagram of a floor truss 11

Figure 2-9. Hat truss in upper floors 13

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation vii
List of Figures

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viii NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
List of Tables

Table P-1 . Federal building and fire safety investigation of the WTC disaster xiv

Table P-2. Public meetings and briefings of the WTC Investigation xvii

Table 1-1 . Metric equivalents of common yield strengths 3

Table 2-1. Number of WTC 1 and 2 perimeter columns damaged by aircraft impact 14

Table 2-2. Number of core columns with a given minimum yield strength within the floors penetrated by the aircraft 14

Table 2-3. Number of perimeter columns of specified grades in floors with significant fire 14

Table 2-4. Number of core columns of specified grades in floors with significant fire 14

Table 3-1. Steels specified as acceptable by the Port Authority in its contract with

steel fabricators 17

Table 3-2. Summary of mechanical properties from relevant ASTM structural steel standards

from WTC era 18

Table 3-3. Summary of chemistry data from relevant ASTM structural steel standards from

WTC era 19

Table 3-4. Summar>' of Japan Industrial Standard structural steel standards from 1974 20

Table 3-5. Steel companies involved in WTC construction and their contracts 21

Table 3-6. Properties of Laclede ASTM A 242 steels obtained from Laclede mill reports 21

Table 3-7. Specified properties for Yawata contemporaneous steel grades 24

Table 3-8. Reported properties for Yawata contemporaneous steel grades 25

Table 3-9. Mechanical properties of U.S. Steel and Bethlehem V-series steels 26

Table 3-10. Chemistry and mechanical property data for a Fuji Steel plate and a Colvilles plate

used for core columns 27

Table 3-1 1 . Sources examined for mill reports and other construction information, other than the

PANYNJ archives 29

Table 3-12. Trade journals examined for WTC steel information 30

Table 3-13. Databases searched for WTC information 30

Table 4-1 . Comparison of chemistry requirements for ASTM A 325 "Standard Specification for High-Strength Bolts for Structural Steel Joints, including Suitable Nuts and Plain

Hardened Washers" between 1970 and 2002 standards 36

NIST NCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation ix
List of Tables

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X NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

Acronyms

AISC American Institute of Steel Construction

A T O T AISI American Iron and Steel Institute ASTM ASTM International

AWS American Welding Society

Dr>c Building Performance Study

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

JIS Japan Industrial Standard

T T^T4 A LERA Leslie E. Robertson Associates

NIST National Institute oi Standards and Technology

PC&F Paciiic Car and Foundry

"n A xrvrvT t FAJN YNJ Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

PONYA Port 01 New York Authority

bhAoN Y Structural Engineers Association of New York

SHCR Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, & Robertson

SMA shielded metal arc use United States Code

WF wide flange (a type of structural steel shape now usually called a W-shape)

WTC World Trade Center

WTC 1 World Trade Center 1 (North Tower)

WTC 2 World Trade Center 2 (South Tower)

WTC 7 World Trade Center 7

Abbreviations

°C degrees Celsius

op degrees Fahrenheit

Eh total elongation

ft foot

yield strength (AISC usage)

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation xi
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

in. inch

L liter .

lb, pound

ksi 1,000 lb/in.' m meter

fim micrometer

min minute

s second

TS tensile strength

YP yield point (ASTM usage, see Table B-3)

YS yield strength (ASTM usage, see Table B-3)

xii NIST NCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Preface

Genesis of This Investigation

Immediately following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center (WTC) on September 11, 2001, the

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Ainerican Society of Civil Engineers began

planning a building performance study of the disaster. The week of October 7, as soon as the rescue and

search efforts ceased, the Building Performance Study Team went to the site and began its assessment. This was to be a brief effort, as the study team consisted of experts who largely volunteered their time

away from their other professional commitments. The Building Performance Study Team issued its report in May 2002, fulfilling its goal "to determine probable failure mechanisms and to identify areas of

future investigation that could lead to practical measures for improving the damage resistance of buildings

against such unforeseen events."

On August 21, 2002, with funding from the U.S. Congress through FEMA, the National Institute of

Standards and Technology (NIST) announced its building and fire safety investigation of the WTC

disaster. On October 1, 2002, the National Construction Safety Team Act (Public Law 107-231), was

signed into law. The NIST WTC Investigation was conducted under the authority of the National

Construction Safety Team Act.

The goals of the investigation of the WTC disaster were:

• To investigate the building construction, the materials used, and the technical conditions that contributed to the outcome of the WTC disaster.

• To serve as the basis for: - Improvements in the way buildings are designed, constructed, maintained, and used; - Improved tools and guidance for industry and safety officials; - Recommended revisions to current codes, standards, and practices; and - Improved public safety.

The specific objectives were:

1. Determine why and how WTC 1 and WTC 2 collapsed following the initial impacts of the

aircraft and why and how WTC 7 collapsed;

2. Determine why the injuries and fatalities were so high or low depending on location,

including all technical aspects of fire protection, occupant behavior, evacuation, and

emergency response;

3. Determine what procedures and practices were used in the design, construction, operation,

and maintenance of WTC 1, 2, and 7; and

4. Identify, as specifically as possible, areas in current building and fu-e codes, standards, and

practices that warrant revision.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation XllI
Preface

NIST is a nonregulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration. The

purpose of NIST investigations is to improve the safety and structural integrity of buildings in the United

States, and the focus is on fact finding. NIST investigative teams are authorized to assess building

performance and emergency response and evacuation procedures in the wake of any building failure that has resuhed in substantial loss of life or that posed significant potential of substantial loss of life. NIST

does not have the statutory authority to make findings of fault nor negligence by individuals or

organizations. Further, no part of any report resulting from a NIST investigation into a building failure or from an investigation under the National Construction Safety Team Act may be used in any suit or action

for damages arising out of any matter mentioned in such report (15 USC 28 1 a, as amended by Public

Law 107-231).

Organization of the Investigation

The National Construction Safety Team for this Investigation, appointed by the then NIST Director, Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr., was led by Dr. S. Shyam Sunder. Dr. William L. Grosshandler served as Associate Lead Investigator, Mr. Stephen A. Cauffman served as Program Manager for Administration,

and Mr. Harold E. Nelson served on the team as a private sector expert. The Investigation included eight

interdependent projects whose leaders comprised the remainder of the team. A detailed description of

each of these eight projects is available at http://wtc.nist.gov. The purpose of each project is summarized

in Table P-1, and the key interdependencies among the projects are illustrated in Fig. P-1.

Table P-1. Federal building and fire safety investigation of the WTC disaster.

Technical Area and Project Leader Project Purpose

Analysis of Building and Fire Codes and

Practices; Project Leaders: Dr. H. S. Lew

and Mr. Richard W. Bukowski

Document and analyze the code provisions, procedures, and

practices used in the design, construction, operation, and

maintenance of the structural, passive fire protection, and

emergency access and evacuation systems of WTC 1, 2, and 7. Baseline Structural Performance and

Aircraft Impact Damage Analysis; Project Leader: Dr. Fahim H. Sadek

Analyze the baseline performance of WTC 1 and WTC 2 under

design, service, and abnormal loads, and aircraft impact damage on

the structural, fire protection, and egress systems.

Mechanical and Metallurgical Analysis of

Structural Steel; Project Leader: Dr. Frank

W. Gayle

Determine and analyze the mechanical and metallurgical properties

and quality of steel, weldments, and connections from steel recovered from WTC 1, 2. and 7. Investigation of Active Fire Protection

Systems; Project Leader: Dr. David

D. Evans; Dr. William Grosshandler

Investigate the performance of the active fire protection systems in WTC 1, 2. and 7 and their role in fire control, emergency response, and fate of occupants and responders.

Reconstruction of Thermal and Tenability

Environment; Project Leader: Dr. Richard

G. Gann

Reconstruct the time-evolving temperature, thermal environment,

and smoke movement in WTC 1.2. and 7 for use in evaluating the

structural performance of the buildings and behavior and fate of

occupants and responders.

Structural Fire Response and Collapse

Analysis; Project Leaders: Dr. John

L. Gross and Dr. Theresa P. McAllister

Analyze the response of the WTC towers to fires with and without

aircraft damage, the response of WTC 7 in fires, the performance

of composite steel-trussed floor systems, and determine the most

probable structural collapse sequence for WTC 1. 2. and 7. Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency

Communications; Project Leader: Mr. Jason

D. Averill

Analyze the behavior and fate of occupants and responders, both

those who survived and those who did not. and the perfoiTnance of

the evacuation system.

Emergency Response Technologies and

Guidelines; Project Leader: Mr. J. Randall

Lawson

Document the activities of the emergency responders from the time

of the terrorist attacks on WTC 1 and WTC 2 until the collapse of

WTC 7. including practices followed and technologies used.

xiv NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Preface

NIST WTC Investigation Projects

Figure P-1. The eight projects in the federal building and fire safety

investigation of the WTC disaster.

National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee

The NIST Director also established an advisory committee as mandated under the National Construction

Safety Team Act. The initial members of the committee were appointed following a public solicitation. These were:

• Paul Fitzgerald, Executive Vice President (retired) FM Global, National Construction Safety

Team Advisory Committee Chair

• John Barsom, President, Barsom Consulting, Ltd.

• John Bryan, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland

• David Collins, President, The Preview Group, Inc.

• Glenn Corbett, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Philip DiNenno, President, Hughes Associates, Inc.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation XV
Preface

• Robert Hanson, Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan

• Charles Thornton, Co-Chairman and Managing Principal, The Thomton-Tomasetti Group,

Inc.

• Kathleen Tiemey, Director, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center,

University of Colorado at Boulder

• Forman Williams, Director, Center for Energy Research, University of California at San

Diego

This National Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee provided technical advice during the

Investigation and commentary on drafts of the Investigation reports prior to their public release. NIST

has benefited from the work of many people in the preparation of these reports, including the National

Construction Safety Team Advisory Committee. The content of the reports and recommendations,

however, are solely the responsibility of NIST.

Public Outreach

During the course of this Investigation, NIST held public briefings and meetings (listed in Table P-2) to

solicit input from the public, present preliminary findings, and obtain comments on the direction and

progress of the Investigation from the public and the Advisory Committee.

NIST maintained a publicly accessible Web site during this Investigation at http://wtc.nist.gov. The site contained extensive information on the background and progress of the Investigation.

NIST's WTC Public-Private Response Plan

The collapse of the WTC buildings has led to broad reexamination of how tall buildings are designed,

constructed, maintained, and used, especially with regard to major events such as fires, natural disasters,

and terrorist attacks. Reflecting the enhanced interest in effecting necessary change, NIST, with support

from Congress and the Administration, has put in place a program, the goal of which is to develop and

implement the standards, technology, and practices needed for cost-effective improvements to the safety

and security of buildings and building occupants, including evacuation, emergency response procedures,

and threat mitigation.

The strategy to meet this goal is a three-part NIST-led public-private response program that includes:

• A federal building and fire safety investigation to study the most probable factors that contributed to post-aircraft impact collapse of the WTC towers and the 47-story WTC 7

building, and the associated evacuation and emergency response experience.

• A research and development (R&D) program to (a) facilitate the implementation of

recommendations resulting from the WTC Investigation, and (b) provide the technical basis

for cost-effective improvements to national building and fire codes, standards, and practices

that enhance the safety of buildings, their occupants, and emergency responders.

xvi NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Preface

Table P-2. Public meetings and briefings of the WTC Investigation.

Date Location Principal Agenda

June 24, 2002 New York City. NY Public meeting: Public comments on the Draft Plan for the pending WTC Investigation.

Ausust21.2002 Gaithersburg. MD Media briefing announcing the formal start of the Investigation.

December 9. 2002 Washinston, DC Media briefing on release of the Public Update and NIST request

for photographs and videos. Apnl 8. 2003 New York City, NY Joint public forum with Columbia University on first-person interviews. Apnl 29-30, 2003 Gaithersburg. MD NCST Advisory Committee meeting on plan for and progress on WTC Investigation with a public comment session. May 7. 2003 New York City, NY Media briefing on release of May 2003 Progress Report.

Anrriict "'6-''7 '•003 OaithpT'shiircr v_J Llilli^l OL^Ul^^ 1VXJ_^ MD \A(^c'Y Afjvicnrv r^nmiTiittpp TTipptintr on <st?itii*\ or IHp WTC

investigation with a public comment session. September 17.2003 New York City. NY Media and public briefing on initiation of first-person data

rollprtion nrniprts

December "'-3 ''003 ("ijiitht^rsbiirp MO N(^ST AHvi<;nrv (""ominittpp iTipptinp on status and initial results and release of the Public Update with a public comment session. February 12, 2004 New York City, NY Public meeting on progress and preliminary findings with public

rnmiTipnts V'WlllIliKvlllO on\Jlx issups loo 1.4 VO toIVJ bpL/^ ronsiHprpH ^V_'lloiU^l^d in111 fomiiilatinp HJllllUltlllll^ final l.illCll recommendations.

limp 1 X ""004 New York Citv NY MpHia/niihlir bripfinp" on rplpasp of Juiip ^004 Pvo<y}'P'<s RpDorf

June 22-23. 2004 Gaithersburg, MD NCST Advisory Committee meefing on the status of and

nrpiiminarv L/l ^lllliliiCll flnrlincrc frnm tbp WTT^ Tnvpsti0"atinn with a niiblic y llllLllll^O 11 Will lllV' VV 1 IIJ V IJ^CiLi v/ll Willi Ci ^LlL/llV comment session. August 24, 2004 Northbrook, IL Public viewing of standard fire resistance test of WTC floor svstpm I InHprwritprs T abnratnnps Tnr October 19-20, 2004 Gaithersburg, MD NCST Advisory Committee meeting on status and near complete

set of preliminary findings with a public comment session. November 11, 2004 Gaithersburg, MD NCST Advisory Committee discussion on draft annual report to Congress, a public comment session, and a closed session to

HiQPiiQQ nrp-Hr?ift rprommpnflfitinn<i for \A/Tr^ lnvp*,tiPPi1inn

April 5, 2005 New York City, NY Media and public briefing on release of the probable collapse

cpniipnr'P for tbp \A/Tr^ tnw/prs Hraff rpnnrts for tbp nroiprts on

codes and practices, evacuation, and emergency response. June 23, 2005 New York City. NY Media and public briefing on release of all draft reports for the WTC towers and draft recommendations for public comment.

September 12-13,

2005

Gaithersburg. MD NCST Advisory Committee meeting on disposition of public

comments and update to draft reports for the WTC towers. September 13-15,

2005

Gaithersburg, MD WTC Technical Conference for stakeholders and technical community for dissemination of findings and recommendations

and opportunity for public to make technical comments.

• A dissemination and technical assistance program (DTAP) to (a) engage leaders of the

construction and building community in ensuring timely adoption and widespread use of

proposed changes to practices, standards, and codes resulting from the WTC Investigation

and the R&D program, and (b) provide practical guidance and tools to better prepare facility owners, contractors, architects, engineers, emergency responders, and regulatory authorities

to respond to future disasters. The desired outcomes are to make buildings, occupants, and first responders safer in future disaster

events.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation xvii
Preface

National Construction Safety Team Reports on the WTC Investigation

A final report on the collapse of the WTC towers is being issued as NIST NCSTAR 1. A companion

report on the collapse of WTC 7 is being issued as NIST NCSTAR 1 A. The present report is one of a set that provides more detailed documentation of the Investigation findings and the means by which these

technical results were achieved. As such, it is part of the archival record of this Investigation. The titles of the full set of Investigation publications are:

NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Final Report on the Collapse ofthe World Trade

Center Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). 2006. Federal Building andFire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Final Report on the Collapse of World Trade Center 7. NIST NCSTAR lA. Gaithersburg, MD.

Lew, H. S., R. W. Bukowski, and N. J. Carino. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of

the World Trade Center Disaster: Design, Construction, and Maintenance ofStructural and Life Safety

Systems. NIST NCSTAR 1-1. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

Fanella, D. A., A. T. Derecho, and S. K. Ghosh. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Design and Construction ofStructural Systems.

NIST NCSTAR 1-1 A. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

Ghosh, S. K., and X. Liang. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Comparison ofBuilding Code Structural Requirements. NIST

NCSTAR 1-lB. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Fanella, D. A., A. T. Derecho, and S. K. Ghosh. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Maintenance and Modifications to Structural

Systems. NIST NCSTAR 1-lC. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg,

MD, September.

Grill, R. A., and D. A. Johnson. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Fire Protection and Life Safety Provisions Applied to the Design and

Construction of World Trade Center 1, 2, and 7 and Post-Construction Provisions Applied after Occupancy. NIST NCSTAR 1-lD. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg,

MD, September.

Razza, J. C, and R. A. Grill. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Comparison ofCodes, Standards, and Practices in Use at the Time ofthe

Design and Construction of World Trade Center I, 2, and 7. NIST NCSTAR 1-lE. National

Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Grill, R. A., D. A. Johnson, and D. A. Fanella. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Comparison ofthe 1968 and Current (2003) New

XVlll NIST NCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Preface

York City Building Code Provisions. NISTNCSTAR 1-lF. National Institute of Standards and

Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Grill, R. A., and D. A. Johnson. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Amendments to the Fire Protection and Life Safety Provisions ofthe New

York City Building Code by Local Laws Adopted Wlnle World Trade Center 7, 2, and 7 Were in Use. NIST NCSTAR 1-lG. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

Grill, R. A., and D. A. Johnson. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Post-Construction Modifications to Fire Protection and Life Safety Systems

of World Trade Center 1 and2. NIST NCSTAR 1 - 1 H. National Institute of Standards and

Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Grill. R. A.. D. A. Johnson, and D. A. Fanella. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation

ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Post-Construction Modifications to Fire Protection, Life

Safety, and Structural Systems of World Trade Center 7. NIST NCSTAR l-II. National Institute of

Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Grill, R. A., and D. A. Johnson. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Design, Installation, and Operation ofFuel System for Emergency Power in World Trade Center 7. NIST NCSTAR 1-1 J. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Sadek, F. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster:

Baseline Structural Performance and Aircraft Impact Damage Analysis ofthe World Trade Center

Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1-2. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

Faschan, W. J., and R. B. Garlock. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe

World Trade Center Disaster: Reference Structural Models and Baseline Performance Analysis of

the World Trade Center Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1-2A. National Institute of Standards and

Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Kirkpatrick, S. W., R. T. Bocchieri, F. Sadek, R. A. MacNeill, S. Holmes, B. D. Peterson,

R. W. Cilke, C. Navarro. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade

Center Disaster: Analysis ofAircraft Impacts into the World Trade Center Towers, NIST

NCSTAR 1-2B. National Instimte of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Gayle, F. W., R. J. Fields, W. E. Luecke, S. W. Banovic, T. Foecke, C. N. McCowan, T. A. Siewert, and

J. D. McColskey. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center

Disaster: Mechanical and Metallurgical Analysis ofStructural Steel. NISTNCSTAR 1-3. National

Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Luecke, W. E., T. A. Siewert, and F. W. Gayle. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Contemporaneous Structural Steel

Specifications. NIST Special Publication 1-3 A. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Gaithersburg, MD, September.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation XIX
Preface

Banovic, S. W. 2005. Federal Building andFire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center

Disaster: Steel Inventoiy and Identification. NIST NCSTAR 1-3B. National Institute of Standards

and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Banovic, S. W., and T. Foecke. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Damage and Failure Modes ofStructural Steel Components. NIST

NCSTAR 1-3C. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Luecke, W. E., J. D. McColskey, C. N. McCowan, S. W. Banovic, R. J. Fields, T. Foecke,

T. A. Siewert, and F. W. Gayle. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Mechanical Properties ofStructural Steels. NIST NCSTAR 1-3D.

National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Banovic, S. W., C. N. McCowan, and W. E. Luecke. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Physical Properties ofStructural Steels. NIST

NCSTAR 1-3E. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Evans, D. D., R. D. Peacock, E. D. KuUgowski, W. S. Dols, and W. L. Grosshandler. 2005. Federal

Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Active Fire Protection

Systems. NIST NCSTAR 1-4. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

Kuligowski, E. D., D. D. Evans, and R. D. Peacock. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Post-Construction Fires Prior to September II, 2001. NIST NCSTAR 1-4A. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

Hopkins, M., J. Schoenrock, and E. Budnick. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation

ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Fire Suppression Systems. NIST NCSTAR 1-4B. National

Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Keough, R. J., and R. A. Grill. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Fire Alarm Systems. NIST NCSTAR 1-4C. National Institute of Standards

and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Ferreira, M. J., and S. M. Strege. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe

World Trade Center Disaster: Smoke Management Systems. NIST NCSTAR 1-4D. National

Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Gann, R. G., A. Hamins, K. B. McGrattan, G. W. Mulholland, H. E. Nelson, T. J. Ohlemiller,

W. M. Pitts, and K. R. Prasad. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade

Center Disaster: Reconstruction of the Fires in the World Trade Center Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1-5. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Pitts, W. M., K. M. Butler, and V. Junker. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation of

the World Trade Center Disaster: Visual Evidence, Damage Estimates, and Timeline Analysis.

NIST NCSTAR 1-5A. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

XX NIST NCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation
Preface

Hamins, A., A. Maranghides, K. B. McGrattan, E. Johnsson, T. J. Ohlemiller, M. Donnelly,

J. Yang. G. Mulholland. K. R. Prasad, S. Kukuck, R. Anleitner and T. McAllister. 2005. Federal

Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Experiments and

Modeling ofStructural Steel Elements Exposed to Fire. NIST NCSTAR 1-5B. National Institute of

Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Ohlemiller, T. J., G. W. Mulholland, A. Maranghides, J. J. Filliben, and R. G. Gann. 2005. Federal

Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Fire Tests ofSingle

Office Workstations. NIST NCSTAR 1-5C. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Gann, R. G., M. A. Riley, J. M. Repp, A. S. Whittaker, A. M. Reinhom, and P. A. Hough. 2005.

Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Reaction of

Ceiling Tile Systems to Shocks. NIST NCSTAR 1-5D. National Institute of Standards and

Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Hamins, A., A. Maranghides, K. B. McGrattan, T. J. Ohlemiller, and R. Anleitner. 2005. Federal

Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Experiments and

Modeling ofMultiple Workstations Burning in a Compartment. NIST NCSTAR 1-5E. National

Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

McGrattan, K. B., C. Bouldin, and G. Forney. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety

Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Computer Simulation ofthe Fires in the World

Trade Center Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1-5F. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Prasad, K. R., and H. R. Baum. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Fire Structure Interface and Thermal Response ofthe World Trade Center

Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1-5G. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg,

MD, September.

Gross, J. L., and T. McAllister. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade

Center Disaster: Structural Fire Response and Probable Collapse Sequence ofthe World Trade Center

Towers. NIST NCSTAR 1-6. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD,

September.

Carino, N. J., M. A. Stames, J. L. Gross, J. C. Yang, S. Kukuck, K. R. Prasad, and R. W. Bukowski.

2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Passive

Fire Protection. NIST NCSTAR 1-6A. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Gross, J., F. Hervey, M. Izydorek, J. Mammoser, and J. Treadway. 2005. Federal Building and

Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Fire Resistance Tests ofFloor Truss

Systems. NIST NCSTAR 1-6B. National Instimte of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg,

MD, September.

Zarghamee, M. S., S. Bolourchi, D. W. Eggers, O. O. Erbay, F. W. Kan, Y. Kitane, A. A. Liepins,

M. Mudlock, W. I. Naguib, R. P. Ojdrovic, A. T. Sarawit, P. R Barrett, J. L. Gross, and

NIST NCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation xxi
Preface

T. P. McAllister. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center

Disaster: Component, Connection, and Subsystem Structural Analysis. NISTNCSTAR 1-6C.

National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Zarghamee, M. S., Y. Kitane, O. O. Erbay, T. P. McAllister, and J. L. Gross. 2005. Federal

Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster: Global Structural

Analysis ofthe Response ofthe World Trade Center Towers to Impact Damage and Fire. NIST

NCSTAR 1-6D. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

McAllister, T., R. W. Bukowski, R. G. Gann, J. L. Gross, K. B. McGrattan, H. E. Nelson, L. Phan,

W. M. Pitts, K. R. Prasad, F. Sadek. 2006. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: Structural Fire Response and Probable Collapse Sequence of World Trade

Center 7. (Provisional). NIST NCSTAR 1-6E. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Gaithersburg, MD.

Gilsanz, R., V. Arbitrio, C. Anders, D. Chlebus, K. Ezzeldin, W. Guo, P. Moloney, A. Montalva,

J. Oh, K. Rubenacker. 2006. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade

Center Disaster: Structural Analysis ofthe Response of World Trade Center 7 to Debris Damage

and Fire. (Provisional). NIST NCSTAR 1-6F. National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Gaithersburg, MD.

Kim, W. 2006. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center

Disaster: Analysis ofSeptember ]] , 2001, Seismogram Data. (Provisional). NISTNCSTAR 1-6G.

National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD.

Nelson, K. 2006. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center

Disaster: The Con Ed Substation in World Trade Center 7. (Provisional). NISTNCSTAR 1-6H.

National Instimte of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD.

Averill, J. D., D. S. Mileti, R. D. Peacock, E. D. Kuligowski, N. Groner, G. Proulx, P. A. Reneke, and

H. E. Nelson. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center Disaster:

Occupant Behavior, Egress, and Emergency Communication. NIST NCSTAR 1-7. National Institute of

Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Fahy, R., and G. Proulx. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade

Center Disaster: Analysis ofPublished Accounts of the World Trade Center Evacuation. NIST

NCSTAR 1-7A. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Zmud, J. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World Trade Center

Disaster: Technical Documentation for Sw\'ey Administration. NISTNCSTAR 1-7B. National

Institute of Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

Lawson, J. R., and R. L. Vettori. 2005. Federal Building and Fire Safety Investigation ofthe World

Trade Center Disaster: The Emergency Response Operations. NIST NCSTAR 1-8. National Institute of

Standards and Technology. Gaithersburg, MD, September.

xxii NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Executive Summary

This report reviews the contemporaneous (1960s era) steel and welding specifications used to construct

the 1 10-story World Trade Center (WTC) towers. The many grades of steel that were used are characterized based on structural engineering specifications for the buildings and the manufacturers'

documents of the era. The major structural elements in the towers relevant to this in^'estigation led by the

National Institute of Standards and Technolog>' are also described.

Structurally, the buildings were a frame-tube construction with a conventional column and beam core. The perimeter ""frame-tube" consisted of closely spaced high-strength perimeter columns. Floor trusses were used to span between the perimeter columns and the core.

Ten different steel companies fabricated structural elements for the two towers. The floors involved in the aircraft impact and major fires on September 11. 2001. contained steel fi^om four of these companies.

• Laclede Steel (St. Louis, Missouri) fabricated the trusses for the floor panels that spanned the

opening between the core and the perimeter columns. They used steels conforming to ASTM

International (ASTM) A 36 and A 242. which they made and rolled in their own mill. Contemporaneous mill reports indicate that many of the floor truss components specified as ASTM A 36 were fabricated with a micro-alloyed steel of considerably higher yield strength.

• Pacific Car and Foundry (Seattle. Washington) fabricated the perimeter box coluinn panels

(generally three columns wide by three stories tall) above the 9th floor. Although 14 grades

of steel (36 to 100 ksi yield strength) were specified in the structural steel drawings, only

12 grades were supplied due to an upgrading of two of the specified steels. Most of the

12 grades of steel came from Yawata Iron and Steel (now Nippon Steel) and Kawasaki Steel,

although about 10 percent of the plate was produced domestically, primarily by Bethlehem

Steel. All these steels were relatively new. proprietar>' steels, with specifications that differed

fi-om ASTM standards of the time. In the impact zones of the towers, the perimeter columns

damaged by the aircraft were primarily of three specified grades: (55, 60, and 65) ksi steels.

• Stanray Pacific (Los Angeles, California) fabricated the welded core box columns

(rectangular columns assembled from four steel plates) above the 7th floor, primarily using

steels conforming to ASTM A 36. The thicker plates came from Colvilles, Ltd. (Motherwell,

Scotland, now Coras Steel), while the thinner plates came from Fuji Steel (now Nippon

Steel).

• Montague-Betts (Lynchburg. Virginia) fabricated all of the rolled wide flange core columns

and beams above the 9th floor. About 40 percent of the steel (by weight) for the wide flange

columns came from Yawata Iron and Steel. They obtained the rest from numerous domestic

suppliers. For WTC 1, the core columns damaged by impact and fire were mostly wide

flange shapes, because of the high elevation of the impact. In WTC 2, the columns damaged

were a roughly equal mix of welded box columns and wide flange shapes.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation xxni
Executive Summary

The contract between the Port of New York Authority (PONYA or Port Authority) and the fabricators

required that the steels supplied meet either certain ASTM standards or specific proprietary steels. Other

proprietary steels were allowed provided that the Port Authority engineer-in-charge approved them. A

limited number of mill reports from the construction era were found for the steels in the floor trusses and

perimeter panels. These reports indicated that the steel met or exceeded the required strengths.

The major findings of this report are:

• 14 grades (i.e., strengths) of steel were specified in the structural engineering plans, but only

12 grades of steel were actually used in construction due to an upgrade of two grades.

• Ten different steel companies fabricated structural elements for the towers, using steel supplied from at least eight different suppliers. Four fabricators supplied the major structural elements of the 9th to 107th floors.

• Although ASTM structural steel standards have evolved since the construction of the towers,

the changes have been minor and do not represent changes to the basic mechanical properties

of the steels.

XXIV NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Chapter 1 Introduction

One of the purposes of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) World Trade Center

(WTC) Investigation is to analyze structural steel available from WTC 1, 2, and 7 for determining the

metallurgical and mechanical properties and quality of the metal, weldments, and connections. The

properties determined under this analysis will be used in two ways:

1 . Properties will be correlated with the design requirements of the buildings to determine

whether the specified steel was in place in the towers.

2. Properties will be supplied for other projects in the Investigation as input for models of

building performance.

1.1 SCOPE OF REPORT

This report covers the tower design (structural steel documents) and contemporaneous structural steel and

construction specifications. A separate report (NIST NCSTAR 1-3B, Steel Inventory and Identification)^

catalogs the steel currently held by NIST for the Investigation purposes.

Chapter 2 of this report describes the tower structure and critical structural elements to be characterized.

This includes the structural design and properties specified by the structural engineers for columns, floor

systems, and connections.

Chapter 3 describes the contemporaneous (late 1960s era) specifications for various types and grades of

steel designated by ASTM International (ASTM), the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC),

and other national and international organizations. It also includes information from numerous suppliers

of the steel for the structure. The structural steel for the towers was supplied through at least a dozen

contracts to suppliers and fabricators. Substantial understanding of the consistency, quality, and actual

strength of the steel (as opposed to specified minimum values) can be gained if the production practices

and quality control procedures used by the various steel suppliers are understood. Practices and data from

the numerous WTC steel suppliers have been investigated and are reported for both structural steel and

construction practices. In addition, this information has been used to estimate typical mechanical

property values for the many of the grades of steel. These typical values can serve as a guide for the

properties to be inserted into the finite element models of building performance and as a point of

comparison for actual properties measured on the recovered steel.

Chapter 4 reviews the standards and specifications used in welding the built-up columns, and those used

in the erection of the towers.

' This reference is to one of the companion documents from this Investigation. A hst of these documents appears in the Preface

to this report.

NIST NCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 1
Chapter 1

NIST NCSTAR 1-3B documents the steel recovered for the WTC Investigation. Approximately

236 pieces of WTC steel were selected for study at NIST. These pieces represent a small fraction of the

steel examined at the various salvage yards where the steel was sent as the WTC site was cleared.

1 .2 SPECIFICATION OF STEEL GRADES (MINIMUM YIELD STRENGTH)

Specifications (ASTM, AISI, etc.) typically place limits on chemical composition or mechanical

properties or, most commonly, both. Various mechanical properties may be specified, such as tensile

strength, minimum yield strength, ductility, and toughness. Other material properties may not appear in a

specification, yet are critical in building design; the most important such property is perhaps the elastic modulus, or stiffness, which does not appear in specifications because there is little variability amongst

the various steels.

In practice, the material property of greatest importance for characterizing a particular steel is the yield

strength (F,.). In the U.S., steel is often referred to according to its yield strength; for example, a "50 ksi steel" is steel with a minimum yield strength of 50,000 lb/in.". Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, &

Robertson (SHCR), structural engineers for the WTC towers, followed this convention, and the design

drawings are marked with the minimum yield strength for each piece of structural steel.

This report expresses the yield strengths of the steels and the dimensions of the building in English units

with metric (SI) equivalents. The steels were specified to English unit-based ASTM standards, and the

building was built to foot and inch dimensions. ASTM standards differentiate between English and

metric units by denoting them with completely different designations and frequently by publishing them

as separate documents. This document will use English units for values that were contractually specified

during the construction (primarily component dimensions and steel strengths). Table 1-1 shows the SI equivalents of the common yield strength grades of steel.

In reviewing some of the historical documents, NIST found ambiguities in the use of the measure "ton." NIST has assumed that in any source originating in the United States, a "ton" refers to 2,000 lb (i.e., a

short ton). For sources originating in Japan, NIST assumes that a "ton" refers to 1,000 kg (= 2,204.6 lb,

i.e., a metric ton). For any source originating in Great Britain, NIST assumes that a "ton" is 2,240 lb

(a "long" or UK ton) and that a "tonne" is 1,000 kg. In this report, all weights in tons are converted to short tons (- 2,000 lb).

The common acronyms and symbols that appear in this report are shown in the List of Acronyms and

Abbreviations. This report follows the AISI convention and denotes yield strength with the symbol F,.. The ASTM uses the symbols YS (or YP) and 5,.

This report is based on three different types of sources. Open literature sources like journal and trade

magazine articles, books, historical standards, and publicly searchable databases comprise the first type.

The second type comprises personal interviews by NIST investigators with individuals and company

representatives, and information they provided voluntarily. Sources of information where NIST has

1.3 UNITS AND ABBREVIATIONS

1.4 SOURCES OF INFORMATION

2 NIST NCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Introduction

entered into Material Transfer Agreements with organizations or individuals comprise the third type.

Documents pro\ ided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), which is the source of most of the contemporaneous information on the construction of the buildings, is an example of the

third t\pe. This archive has been useful in identifying the specific steels and standards used in the

construction. Although it is voluminous, the PANYNJ archive does not include every document

generated during the construction of the towers. Section 3.4 suinmarizes the search strategies for open

literature information and pro\'ides details on the companies and individuals contacted and the

information they provided

This report identifies the type of source in the reference. For example, a reference to a book or other

publicly available document appears as (Smith 1968). The symbol t denotes a personal communication

to a NIST in\'estigator. for example (Jones 2003 t). In the case of a source bound by a Material Transfer

Agreement, the symbol § appears in the reference, for example (Monti 1969 §). The reference lists appear as Sees. 5.1 to 5.3.

Table 1-1. Metric equivalents of common yield strengths.

ksi MPa

36 248

42 290

45 310

46 317

50 345

55 379

60 414

65 448

70 483

75 517

80 552

85 586

90 621

100 689

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 3
Chapter 1

\

This page intentionally left blank.

4 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Chapter 2

Tower Design - Structural Steel Documents

2.1 STRUCTURAL OVERVIEW

The World Trade Center (WTC) tower buildings had a frame-tube construction consisting of closely

spaced perimeter columns coupled to a rectangular service core (Fig. 2-1). The buildings had a square

footprint, 207 ft 2 in. (63.14 m) on a side with chamfered comers. From the 9th to 107th floors, the

perimeter columns consisted of closely spaced built-up box columns. The service core at the building

center was approximately 87 ft by 137 ft (26.5 m by 41.8 m) and connected to the perimeter columns by a

floor panel system that provided an essentially column-free office space; see Fig. 2-2. In addition to showing the location of perimeter and core columns. Fig. 2-2 describes the column numbering scheme

used to identifv each column on a eiven floor.

Central Core Columns

Exterior Framed Tube

Technical Services •

Sky Lobby - Technical Services -

Sky Lobby - Technical ServicesExpress Elevators

Technical Services

Plaza Level -

Floor Slab

59 Columns per Side

Local Elevators Concrete Slab

Floor Covenng Trough Decking

Open weD

Bar Joist

Electric Duct

Air-conditioning Duct

Local Elevators

Figure 2-1 . Schematic diagram of the tower structure.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 5
Chapter 2

N

A

101 103 106 109 112 115 118 121 124 127 130 133 136 138 142 145 148 151 15t 157 159

^ » 354 348 345 342 339 336 333 330 327 324 321 318 315 312 309 306 303 301 Figure 2-2. WTC tower floor plan and column numbers.

The WTC tower structural steel plans (SHCR 1967 §) point out the major structural elements of interest. The main features of structural interest are the perimeter columns, the core columns and associated

framing, the trusses that supported the floors, and the connections between and within these elements. In addition, a "hat truss" located within the 107th to 1 10th floors tied the core to the perimeter colurnns and

provided a base for the television mast atop WTC 1 and support for a proposed mast atop WTC 2.

The structural steel drawings provide the location, cross-sections, and grade of steel (i.e., required

minimum yield strength) for each of the thousands of structural elements in the buildings. In all, 14 different grades of steel were specified, ranging in yield strength from 36 ksi to 100 ksi. In addition to yield strength requirements, Port of New York Authority (PONYA) documents provided by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) specified allowable steels using ASTM International

(ASTM) or other standards (details in Chapter 3 in this report). Requirements for bolts and welds are also

given.

6 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation
Tower Design - Structural Steel Documents

2.1.1 Perimeter Columns

Between the 9th and 107th floors, the perimeter structure consisted of closely spaced, built-up box

columns. Each building face consisted of 59 columns spaced at 40 in. ( 1 .02 m). The columns were

fabricated by welding plates of steel to form an approximately 14 in. (0.36 m) square section (Fig. 2-3).

Adjacent columns were interconnected at each floor level by deep spandrel plates, typically 52 in. (1.32 m) deep (Fig. 2-4).

14.0 in. /Outer Web (Plate 2)

Flange

(Plate 1

)

13.5 in. Section at individual column

15.75 in. \|nner Web (Plate 3)

Outside of building

40.0 in.

Splice Plates

/' Inside of building Spandrel Plate (Plate 4) Section at spandrel

Figure 2-3. Cross-section of perimeter columns; sections with and without spandrels.

Source: Unknown. Enhanced by NIST. Figure 2-4. Characteristic perimeter column panel consisting of three full columns

connected by three spandrels.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 7
Chapter 2

The perimeter columns were prefabricated into panels, typically three stories tall and three columns wide

(Fig. 2^). Other than at the mechanical floors, panels were staggered (Fig. 2-5) so that only one-third of

the units were spliced (i.e., connected) in any one story. Heavy end, or "butf plates with F, = 50 ksi and

1.375 in. to 3 in. (3.5 mm to 7.6 mm) thick were welded to the top and bottom of each column. Fillet welds were used inside the columns along three edges, with a groove weld on the fourth, outside edge.

During erection, abutting spandrels were bohed together, and columns were bolted to the adjacent

columns, all using ASTM A 325 bolts, except for the heaviest butt plates, which used ASTM A 490 bolts

Floor

Floor

Floor

Floor

Floor

Floor

Figure 2-5. Partial elevation of exterior bearing-wall frame showing exterior wall module

construction. Highlighted panel is three stories tall (36 ft) and spans four floors.

Distance between panels has been exaggerated.

8 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Tower Design - Structural Steel Documents

Fourteen grades of steel were specified in the design documents for the perimeter columns, with

minimum yield strengths of (36. 42, 45, 46, 50. 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, and 100) ksi. Twelve

grades of steel were specified for the spandrels, with the same strength levels as the coluinns but without

the two highest strength steels. The structural steel drawings indicate that the flanges and webs of a given

column section consist of a single grade (i.e.. minimum yield strength) of steel, but each column and

spandrel within a single prefabricated panel could be fabricated from different grades of steel.

Columns in the upper stories were typically fabricated of lighter gauge steel, as thin as 0.25 in. (6.35 mm), with the grade of steel dictated by the calculated gravity and wind loads. In this manner the

gravity load on the lower stories was minimized. In the lower stories the perimeter column flanges were

often more than 2 in. (5 1 mm) thick.

The spandrels formed an integral part of the columns: there was no inner web plate at spandrel locations.

Spandrels were generally specified with a yield strength lower than that of the webs and flanges, as well

as a heavier gauge than the adjacent inner webs.

2.1.2 Core Columns

Core columns were of two t\'pes: welded box columns and rolled wide flange (WF) shapes (Fig. 2-6).

The columns in the lower floors were primarily very large box columns as large as 12 in. by 52 in. (0.30 m by 1.32 m) composed of welded plates up to 7 in. (178 mm) thick. In the upper floors the

columns shifted to the rolled WF shapes. The transition floors are indicated in Fig. 2-6 for each of the core columns. Core columns were typically spliced at three-story intervals. The splices in the impact and

fire zones were at floors 75, 77, 80, 83, 86. 89, 92, 95, 98, and 101. Diagonal bracing was used at the

mechanical floors and in the area of the hat truss. Core box columns were 36 ksi or 42 ksi. Core wide

flange columns were specified to be one of four grades, but were primarily 36 ksi and 42 ksi steel; only

about 1 percent of all the core columns were made of 45 ksi or 50 ksi steel.

The core area was framed conventionally with beams. There were numerous openings in the core area

floor for elevators and stairwells. Since fewer elevators were needed at the upper floors, part of the core

area was not needed for services. In Fig. 2-7, the dashed line shows the perimeter of the core, and shaded

areas indicate t>'pical enclosed areas for elevators and other services.

2.1.3 Flooring System

In the great majority of floors, the floor area outside the central core was supported by a series of 29 in. (0.74 m) deep, composite open web bar joists ("floor trusses") that spanned between the core and

perimeter wall (Fig. 2-8). At the core, the floor trusses were bohed to seats generally attached to channels that ran continuously along the core columns. At the perimeter columns, the floor trusses were

bolted and then welded to seats, mounted on spandrels at every other column. The floor trusses were

approximately 60 ft (18.3 m) or 35 ft (10.7 m) long (depending upon the relative orientation of the

building core), spaced at 6 ft 8 in. (2.0 m). There were of dozens of variants.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 9
Chapter 2

22.0 in.

22.0 in Column 504

:1.31 in. 14.0 in.

15.0 in. Column

701

.1.50 in.

Columns 1001 1008

501 508 14WF730

22.44 in.

4.91 in. Columns 607 906 1.62 in. 14WF61

^ Column 705 14WFP1Q wO.64 in.

15.87 in. 13.91 in.

17

;

15.825 in. 10.00 in. Figure 2-6. Typical welded box members and roiled wide flange shapes used for core columns between the 83rd and 86th floors (to scale).

I I

1 S3 83 83

ll

80

I

80

I

SO

' I

<

<3^

-504: 83

80

04:

<1

5^

83 83 83

80

I

1

80 80

24 I

J9I

10Q5> 86

^8

83

80

C708>

-908, 48

4008. 80

C502> Column #

83 Floor of Transition from box to Wide Flange columns

I WF Column*

I Box Column*

Typical Enclosed Area for Elevators and Other Services

'Shape of Column at the 84th Floor Figure 2-7. Core column layout in WTC towers.

10 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Tower Design - Structural Steel Documents

. Extenor Column

\ /\ /j \\7\7

interior Column

-V

Detail A

3/8' Gusset Plate Welded to Column and Top Chord

Two 5/8' Diameter Bolts

in Slotted Holes

Detail B

Floor Line y-A' (Typical)

Extenor Column Detail A - Exterior Wall End Detail

Floor Line Interior Column

Two 5/8' Diameter Bolts

in Slotted Holes

Ctiannel Wfelded to Column

Detail B - Interior Wall End Detail

Figure 2-8. Schematic diagram of a floor truss.

The prefabricated floor modules were typically 20 ft (6.1 m) wide, containing two sets of doubled trasses

in the interior and a single trass along each edge. Thus, each seat supported either a double trass within a

floor panel, or two single trasses from adjacent floor panels. In addition, the bottom chord of each pair of

trasses was attached to perimeter spandrels with visco-elastic dampers. Bridging trasses ran perpendicular to the main bar trasses and were spaced at 13 ft 4 in. (4.06 m). The floor panels were

covered with a corragated steel floor deck that rested on the bridging trasses. Flutes in the deck ran

parallel to the main trasses. Once in place, 4 in. (100 mm) of lightweight concrete was poured for the

floor. Figure 2^ shows an assembled floor panel before the concrete floor was poured.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 11
Chapter 2

The minimum yield strength of the steel for the floor trusses was specified to be 50 ksi "unless otherwise

noted." In practice, several of the designs specified 36 ksi steel as well as 50 ksi steel (see Sec. 3.3.1 for complete details).

All seats were specified to be of 36 ksi minimum yield strength. There were over 30 varieties of

perimeter seats, with various thicknesses from 3/8 to 7/8 in. in 1/8 in. increments (9.5 mm to 22.2 mm in 3.2 mm increments). Core seats were 7/16 in., 1/2 in., 5/8 in., or 3/4 in. thick (11.1 mm, 12.7 mm,

15.9 mm, or 19 mm).

Certain floors outside the core were supported by rolled structural steel shapes rather than trusses. These

included the mechanical floors and the floors just above the mechanical floors (e.g., floors 75, 76, and

77). Beam framing was typically W27" beams in the long span region and W16 beams in the short

direction with beams spaced at 40 in. The floor was 5.75 in. thick, normal-weight concrete poured on a

1.5 in. fluted steel deck, acting compositely with the steel beams. The concrete on the beam-framed

floors above the mechanical floors was 8 in. thick, normal-weight concrete in the core area and "^.75 in. thick normal-weight concrete outside the core.

The floor in the core area was typically framed with rolled structural steel shapes acting compositely with

fonned concrete slabs.

2.1.4 Floors 107 to 110

At the top of each tower (floors 107 to the roof) a hat truss interconnected the core columns (Fig. 2-9).

Diagonals of the hat truss were typically W12 or W14 wide flange members. In addition, four diagonal

braces (18 in. by 26 in. box beams spanning the 35 ft gap, and 18 in. by 30 in. box beams spanning the

60 ft gap) and four horizontal floor beams cormected the hat truss to each perimeter wall at the 108th floor spandrel. The hat tmss was designed to provide a base for antennae atop each tower, although only the

WTC 1 antenna was actually built.

Perimeter columns for floors 107 to 110 also differed from the lower floors and were alternating small

tube columns or wide flange columns, with the wide flange columns supporting the floor system.

The "W" in W27 beam denotes the shape of the beam (see Fig. 2-6). The number following the "W" denotes the weight of the beam in pounds per foot.

12 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Tower Design - Structural Steel Documents

Diagona! Braces

^ {box sections)

110th Roor

109fh Roor

108jn Roor

10701 Roor

lOeifi Roor

10501 Roor

104th Roor

103rtFloof

Section Plan

Figure 2-9. Hat truss in upper floors.

2.1.5 Impact Zone

The impact zones of the two towers are of particular interest, and special testing of the steels in this region

will be conducted. High strain-rate mechanical tests and high-temperature mechanical property tests will

focus on those steels most prominent in the impact zones, as indicated below.

In WTC 1, the perimeter columns torn out or otherwise damaged by the airplane impact (as judged from

photographs of the building) were predominantly specified as 55 ksi and 60 ksi steel. In WTC 2, most

damaged columns were specified in the 55 ksi to 65 ksi range, though there was a wide range of steel grades involved. Table 2-1 . Summarizes the steel grades in the perimeter columns damaged by the

impact. In the table, the impact zone is defined as floors 94 to 98 in WTC 1 and floors 78 to 83 in WTC 2. Although the extremities of the airplanes extended onto surrounding floors, these are the floors over which the airplanes penetrated into the buildings.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 13
Chapter 2

Table 2-1. Number of WTC 1 and 2 perimeter columns damaged by aircraft impact.

Tower Column Design Minimum Yield Strength Fy (ksi)

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 100

WTC 1 3 27 17 5 WTC 2 1 6 13 16 2 1 1 2 1

The number of core columns damaged by the impact is not known. In the WTC 1 impact zone, the core columns were almost entirely wide flange shapes. In the WTC 2 impact zone, the core columns were a mix of box and wide flange shapes. As is typical of all core columns, the steel was predominantly

specified as 36 ksi and 42 ksi minimum yield strength. Table 2-2 describes the distribution of core column types in the impact zones.

Table 2-2. Number of core columns with a given minimum yield strength within the

floors penetrated by the aircraft.

Column Type Yield Strength F, (ksi)

WTC 1 (floors 94 to 98) WTC 2 (floors 78 to 83)

36 42 45 50 36 42 45 50

Box 0 3 38 15 Wide flange 88 44 3 3 81 6 0 1 Note: Core columns were three stories tall and were spliced at floors 77, 80, 83, 86, 89, 92, 95, and 98. The splice is several

feet above the floor at the story indicated. Therefore, in the WTC 1 impact zone, there were three sets comprising

141 individual columns.

2.1.6 Floors Involved in Post-Impact Fires

Special attention was given to characterizing the performance of the structural steel found in floors engaged in the post-impact fires. The steels most vulnerable to heat from the fires were located in the zone damaged by the impact since those members were aheady under additional loads. Table 2-3 lists the perimeter column types and grades of steel within these floors, defined here as floors 92 to 100 for WTC 1, and floors 77 to 83 for WTC 2. Table 2^ lists this information for the core columns.

Table 2-3. Number of perimeter columns of specified grades in floors with

significant fire.

Floors

Perimeter Column Design Minimum Yield Strength Fy (ksi)

45 46 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 100

WTC 1 92 to 100 0 1 26 225 246 196 122 83 40 16 7 16 WTC 2 77 to 83 1 3 34 217 255 88 29 25 26 40 91 105

Table 2-4. Number of core columns of specified grades in floors with significant fire.

Column Type

Yield Strength Fy (ksi)

WTC 1 (floors 92 to 100) WTC 2 (floors 77 to 83)

36 42 45 50 36 42 45 50

Box 0 7 69 16 Wide flange 115 58 3

5 86 13 1 3

14 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Chapter 3

Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

3.1 INTRODUCTION

This section integrates information from many sources on the steels used in the World Trade Center

(WTC) and has two goals. First, contemporaneous (1960s era) American and Japanese steel specifications are summarized. Second, relevant information on steel properties from the construction

documents and open Uteratiore sources is presented.

The report approaches these goals are approached from several directions. As is common practice, the

structural engineering plans (obtained from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey [PANYNJ or Port Authorit}-']) only specify the minimum yield strengths and dimensions of the beams and columns.

The steel contracts that the Port Authority (PONYA 1967, Ch. 2 §) awarded for the fabrication provided

the specifications for the allowable steels to meet those minimum yield strengths. Those contracts allowed the fabricators to use steels that conformed to certain ASTM International (ASTM) Standard

Specifications. In addition, the contracts also permitted the fabricators to use certain proprietary steels from U.S. steel mills. These were required to conform to specific, dated and published data sheets that the steel mills provided. Finally, the contracts also allowed other proprietary steels not listed in the

contract, provided that the Port Authority chief engineer of the project reviewed and formally approved

their specifications (PONYA 1967, Clause 1). In all cases, the steels required extensive documentation to be acceptable for use.

This chapter focuses on the steels used in the area of the impact and fire: the floor panels, the perimeter

columns, the welded core box columns, and the rolled core columns, fabricated by Laclede, Pacific Car

and Foundry, Stanray Pacific, and Montague-Betts, respectively. It does not consider any of the sections

of the buildings remote from the impact and fire sites, so fabricators of sections below the 9th floor

(Mosher, Drier, Levinson, Pittsburgh-Des Moines, and Atlas) are not addressed, although Appendix A

provides some background information on these companies.

In this document, "contemporaneous" refers to the standards in effect at the time of construction, in contrast to contemporary (or present-day) standards. ASTM standards are modified and renewed at regular intervals, so the current requirements of a standard may not have been in force during the

WTC era. This distinction is also important because historical versions of standards can be difficult to locate. Appendix B summarizes the generally minor differences between the contemporaneous and

contemporary versions of the relevant standards.

3.2 STANDARDS CALLED FOR IN THE STEEL CONTRACTS

The Port Authority had a generic contract that listed allowable steel standard specifications, which went

to all the fabricators. Generally, it specified that a given steel was acceptable for use if it conformed to one of a list of ASTM standards that were in force during September 1967. It also allowed several steels

that were modifications of these ASTM standards. In addition, it allowed a number of proprietary steels

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 15
Chapter 3

made by U.S. steel mills. Finally, it allowed the use of other proprietary steels after formal approval by

the Project Engineer, an employee of the Port Authority. It was by this last method that Pacific Car and

Foundry (PC&F) received approval to use the Japanese steels in the perimeter columns.

It is important to remember that an ASTM standard can admit a wide variety of steel compositions and

strengths. A specific steel might be capable of meeting several distinct ASTM steel standards. For

instance, ASTM A 36 only specifies a minimum 36 ksi yield strength, an upper and lower tensile strength

and carbon, manganese, silicon, phosphorus, and sulfur contents. Many high-strength low-alloy steels designed to meet other ASTM structural steel standards (e.g., A 572, A 242) will also meet A 36. Simply

identifying a specific steel as meeting a given ASTM standard will not uniquely identify its composition

or mechanical properties.

In terms of shapes and tolerances, all the steel was required to meet ASTM A 6, ''General Requirements

for Dehvery of Rolled Steel Plates. . This standard has evolved in the past thirty years. One significant

difference between current and contemporaneous versions is that the 1 966 standard made no allowances

for chemistry deviations. Instead these deviations, the so-called check analyses, were stated in the

individual steel standards. Currently those allowables have been moved out of the individual standards

and into A 6.

3.2.1 Steels

Table 3-1 summarizes the allowable steels listed in the contract (in "Chapter 2 (Materials)") between the Port Authority and all the fabricators. Note that it does not list ASTM A 572, a common, current standard

for niobium-vanadium structural steels, which was established only in 1966. The proprietary steels allowed by the contract do include U.S.S. EX-TEN and Bethlehem V-series, however. These steels would confonn to ASTM A 572, which was under development in that era. Table 3-2 and Table 3-3

summarizes the relevant structural steel specifications from the WTC construction era, including data on

the various "modified" standards allowed in the Materials chapter of the fabricators' contracts.

Although Japanese steel mills supplied much of the steel, NIST has found no evidence that the Port Authority or the fabricators ever referred to any Japanese (JIS) standards. Table 3-4 summarizes the

relevant Japanese standards from the era. They not as detailed as the cortesponding ASTM steel standards, and mostly just specify minimum yield strength and maximum carbon content.

3.2.2 Fasteners

Section 4.2.4 covers fastener standards.

16 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

Table 3-1. Steels specified as acceptable by the Port Authority in its contract with

steel fabricators.

Standard Fy (ksi) Description of Standard

Structural Steels A 36 36 Structural steel A 242 50 High-strength structural steel A 440 50 High-strength structural steel A 441 50 High-strength manganese vanadium steel A 441 modified" 50 As A 441 with Cr and increased Cu

A514 100 Quenched and tempered alloy steel plate for welding

A 514 modified 100 As A 5 14, but TS requirements waived

USS CON PAC Grades 70 and 80

Bethlehem V series Grades 42,45,50.55,60, 65

Lukens Grades45,50, 55, 60, 80

USS EX-TEN Grades 42, 45, 50. 55, 60, 65, 70

USS COR-TEN "considered to conform to A 441 modified"

Lukens COR-TEN "considered to conform to A 441 modified"

Pressure Vessel Steels A 302 Manganese molybdenum steel for pressure vessels A 302 modified

A 533 Mn-Mo and Mn-Mo-Ni steels for pressure vessels A 533 modified

A 542 Cr-Mo steel for pressure vessels

a. Apparently (lr\ ing 1968) "A 441 modified" was a catch-all term for a group of steels that were codified in 1968 under ASTM A 588 "High-Strength Low-Alloy Structural Steel with 50,000 psi Minimum Yield Point to 4 in. Thick." Key: Cr. chromium; Cu, copper; F,., yield strength; Mn, manganese; Mo, molybdenum; Ni. nickel; TS, tensile strength.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 17
Chapter 3

Table 3-2. Summary of mechanical properties from relevant ASTM structural steel

standards from WTC era.

Standard Title

Mil).

(ksi)

TS

Min.

(ksi)

TS

Max.

(ksi)

El, Min.

(%) Notes A 36-66' Structural steel 36 58 80 20 For shapes; plates have higher C, Mn,

and Si requirements

A 242-66" High-strength low-alloy stnictural

steel

50 70 18 Plates and bars / <= 0.75 in.; Group

1 &2 shapes

A 440-67" High-strength structural steel 50 70 18 Plates and bars / <= 0.75 in.; Group

I&2 shapes

A 440-67" High-strength structural steel 46 67 19 Plates and bars 0.75 in. < / <=1 .5 in.;

VJJ UUU J ollaUCo, ClUllKuLIUli ICUUCIUJIIS based for / > 0.75 in. A 44U-0 / High-strength structural steel A

1 0 Plates and bars 1 .5 in. < / <=4 in.; Group 4&5 shapes.; elongation

reductions for / > 3.5 in. A 441-06 High-strength low-alloy structural manganese vanadium steel

^ AJ\J /U 1 O Plates and bars / <= 0.75 in.; Group

1&2 shapes

A 441-

modified" As A 441, but modified by PONYA 50 70 19 Plates & bars 0. /5 in.<= i<= 4 in.; Group 1,2.3 shapes

A 441-66 High-strength low-alloy structural manganese vanadium steel 46 67 1

9

Plates and bars 0.75 in. < t <=1 .5 in.; Group 3 shapes.; elongation

minimums relaxed for t > 0.75 in. A 441-66" High-strength low-alloy structural manganese vanadium steel

42 63 1

6

Plates and bars 1 .5 in. < / <= 4 in.; Group 4&5 shapes

A 441-66" High-strength low-alloy structural manganese vanadium steel 40 60 Plates and bars 4 in. < ? <= 8 in.; elongations on 2 in. GL

A 514-65" High-yield-strength, quenched and tempered alloy steel plate, suitable for

\x'p1H 1 n (T

100 115 135 18 /<=0.75 in.

A 514-65" High-yield-strength, quenched and

tempered alloy steel plate, suitable for welding

100 115 135 18 0.75 in. </<=2.5 in.

A 514-65 High-yield-strength, quenched and tempered alloy steel plate, suitable for welding

C\f\ 90 1 A C 105 1

") c 135 1

7

2.5 in. < / <= 4 in.

A 514- modified"

100 X X See

std. As A 5 14, but TS waived in PONYAsteel contract A 529-64 Structural .steel with 42 ksi minimum

yield point

42 60 85 19

A 572-70 High strength low-alloy columbium

vanadium steels of structural quality

50 65 1

8

6 grades; r, - (4i 45 50 55 60 o5) ksi; different C contents A 573-70 Structural carbon steel plates of improved toughness

35 65 77 20 2 grades 65 ksi or 70 ksi TS

A 588-70 High-strength low-alloy structural

steel with 50 ksi minimum yield point

to 4 in. thick

50 70 18 9 chemistries

a. Allowed by PONYA Steel contract. Chapter 2, "Materials." Key: C, carbon; £/„ total elongation; F,,, specified minimum yield strength; Mn. manganese; Si, silicon; TS, tensile strength.

18 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

Table 3-3. Summary of chemistry data from relevant ASTM structural steel standards

from WTC era.

Standard

Chemistry (mass %)

Other/Notes

C

Max.

Mn

Max.

Si Max. Ni CrV

Min.

Cu

Min.

P

Max.

S Max.

A 36-66 shapes 0.26 NR NR 0.2 0.04 0.05 Cu where specified

A36-66 plates with

/<0.75 in.

0.25 NR NR 0.04 0.05 Cu where specified

A36-66 plates with

0.75 in. </<1.5 m

0.25 0.8-1.2 Nil 0.04 0.05 Cu where specified

A36-66 plates with

1.5 in. </<2.5 in

0.26 0.8-1.2 0.15-0.3 0.04 0.05 Cu where specified"

A 242-66 0.22 1.25 0.05 Type 1 A 242-66 0.15 1.40 0,05 Type 2 A 440-67 0.28 1.1-1.6 0.3 0.2 0.06 0.05 A 44 1-66 0.22 0.85-1.25 0.3 0.02 0.2 0.04 0.05 A 441 -modified 0.19 0.85-1.25 0.15-0.3 0.4-0.65 0.02 0.25-0.4 0.04 0.05

A 44 1-66 0.22 0.85-1.25 0.3 0.02 0.2 0.04 0.05 A 514-65 8 individual

chemistries, with Cr, Mo. B

A 529-64 V.l 1 1 .1 u.z U.U4 nU.Ujc\'\

A 572-70 0.22 1.35 0.3 0.04 0.05 4 variants with Nb or Va or Nb+Va, or V-f-N A 573-70 0.24 0.85-1.25 0.15-0.30 0.04 0.05 A 588-70 9 individual

chemistries, generally with Cr, Ni, V, Nb

a. A 36 plates have different requirements for thicker sections that include higher carbon allowables and slightly different manganese requirements.

Key: B, boron; C. carbon; Cr, chromium; Cu, copper; Mn, manganese; Mo, molybdenum; Nb, niobium; Ni, nickel; NR, no

requirement; P, phosphorus; Si, silicon; S, sulfur; V, vanadium.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 19
Chapter 3

Table 3-4. Summary o Japan Industrial Standard structural stee

Standard Grade

Min.

TS

Min.

t^»U

TS

Max.

t^»i;

C

Max.

Mn

Max.

Si Max. Cr

Cu

Min.

t /o;

P Max.

S Max.

Othai- vjincr

JISG3 106-73 Rolled

Steel for Welded

Structure

SM50a 45 71 88 0.20 1.5 0.55 0.04 0.04 Add any element

"if necessary"

SM50b

SMSOc

45 71 88 0.18 0.04 0.04 Add any element

"if necessary"

SM50Ya

SM50Yb

51 71 88 0.20 1.5 0.55 0.04 0.04 Add any element

"if necessary"

SM53b

S1V153C

51 75 92 Add any element

"if necessary"

olVl J 0 0 J

1 (\A

1 U4 n 1 s U. 1 o 1 .J u.r> J U.U4 U.U4

Jlo KjJl l^-ZJ rlOi Rolled Atmospheric

Corrosion Resistant

Steel for Welded

Structure

J)M Ajua

SMA50b

SMA50C

J 1 /

1

n 1 o 1 A

u. / r> O.i— 1 .1 U.z—U. / U.U4 U.U4 + Mo or Nb or Ni

or Ti or V or Zr

SMA58b 65 82 104 0.19 1.4 0.75 0.3-1.2 0.2-0.7 0.04 0.04 +Mo, Ni, Nb, Ti, Va and or Zr

JIS G3 101-73 Rolled

Steel for General

Structure

SS55 57 78 0.30 1.6 0.04 0.04 Add any element

"if necessary"

SS50 40 71 88 0.05 0.05

standards from 1974.

Key: C. carbon; Cr. chromium; Cu, copper; F,, yield strength; .TIS, Japan Industrial Standard; Mo, molybdenum; Nb, niobium;

Ni, nickel; P, phosphoras; Si, silicon; S, sulfur; Ti, titanium; TS, tensile strength; V, vanadium; Zr, zirconium. Note: Compositions are given as mass fractions. Thickness range for all standards is 16 mm< / < 40 mm.

Source: International Technical Information Institute, Handbook of Comparative World Steel Standards (1974).

3.3 STEELS USED IN CONSTRUCTION

Information from the suppliers and fabricators was used to identify the specific steels supplied to meet

those contractual requirements. Table 3-5 and Appendix A provide background information on the

various fabricators of WTC steel, including tons of steel reported in their contracts. The rest of this section summarizes information on the steels used in the impact and fire zones of the towers.

20 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

Table 3-5. Steel companies involved in V\rrc construction and their contracts.

Fabricator Current Status Component Tons

Pacific Car and Foundry' Co. Sold in 1974 Exterior columns and spandrels 55,800

Montague Belts Co., Inc No longer a steel fabricator

Rolled columns and beams above 9th

floor

25,900

Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Co. Bifurcation columns ("trees") 4th to Qth "III floor ilUUl

6,800

Atlas Machine & Iron Works No longer in business Box columns below the bifurcation 13,600

Mosher Steel Co. Currently active Core box columns below the 9th floor 13,000

Stanray Pacific Corp. Closed in 1971 Core box columns above the 9th floor 31,100

Levinson Steel Co. Sold in 1997, parent

company m bankruptcy

Supports for slabs below grade 12,000

Laclede Steel Co. Bankrupt in 2001, new

owners of rolling mill

Floor trusses Unknown

Drier Structural Steel Co.. Inc. Unknown Grillages Unknown

Total 141.170

Source: Feid 1971.

3.3.1 Floor Trusses

Laclede Steel manufactured the trusses for the composite floor panels for both WTC 1 and WTC 2 from

steel they made and rolled at their mill in Alton, Illinois. The chords were fabricated from hot-rolled

angles, while the web was fabricated from hot-rolled round bar (Fig. 2-8).

According to internal Laclede documents (Bay 1968 t), the top chord angles, as well as most round bars, were fabricated to meet ASTM A 242 {Fy - 50 ksi). Only 1.09 in. (27.7 mm) and 1 13/16 in. (46.0 mm)

round bars and the bottom chord angles were specified as ASTM A 36. Conversations with Laclede

metallurgists (Brown 2002 t) active during the WTC construction revealed that even for components

specified as ASTM A 36, Laclede would have supplied a vanadium, micro-alloyed steel with a typical

Fy - 50 ksi, similar to a contemporary A 572 steel. In all the Laclede documents NIST examined, there were only two different mill test reports on A 242 steel, both from mid- 1969; see Table 3-6. These

mill reports indicate that the A 242 steel supplied is a niobium-containing steel similar to modem

ASTM A 572 steels with yield points that exceed the specified minimum by about 10 ksi.

Table 3-6. Properties of Laclede ASTM A 242 steels obtained from Laclede mill reports.

Component

Fy

(ksi)

Element Composition (mass %)

C Mn P S V Nb Source

2 in. by 1 .5 in. by 0.25 in. bulb

angle heat 83033

62.8 0.20 0.86 0.014 0.044 NR 0.020 Kamper 1968 t

3 in. by 2 in. by 0.25 in. bulb

angle heat 83162

60.1 0.19 0.77 0.013 0.043 NR 0.015 Kamper 1968 t

1.14 in. rod heat 76056 54 0.19 0.80 0.005 0.024 NR NR White 1969b t

2 tests Key: C, carbon; Mn, manganese; Nb, niobium; NR, not reported; P, phosphorous; S, sulfur; V, vanadium.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Chapter 3

3.3.2 Perimeter Columns and Spandrels

The perimeter wall columns, fabricated by PC&F, were composed of three important subassemblies: the

columns, the spandrels, and the truss seats. The structural plans called for the columns to be fabricated

from 14 grades of steel with F, - (36, 42, 45, 46, 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, 85, 90, and 100) ksi. Above

the 75th floor, more than half of the columns had yield strengths greater than or equal to 55 ksi and less than or equal to 70 ksi. The spandrels were fabricated from 12 grades of steel with Fy = (36, 42, 45, 46,

50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, 80, and 85) ksi. The truss seats were specified to be fabricated from steel with

F,. = 36 ksi minimum.

Yawata Iron and Steel Co. supplied most of the steel to PC&F for the perimeter columns and spandrels.

In general, the exterior (or web) and side (or flange) plates of each column and the spandrels were

fabricated from Japanese steel, and the interior web plate (plate 3, Fig. 2-3) was fabricated from domestic

steel (Symes 1969a §, White 1969a §). Searches of archival material yielded no information on the steels for the truss seats beyond the fact that they were specified as F,. 36 ksi.

A contemporaneous Yawata document (Yawata 1969 t) indicates that Yawata shipped 46,000 metric tons of WEL-TEN 60, 60R, 62, 70, and 80 to PC&F. That document refers to WEL-TEN 80, rather than

WEL-TEN 80C, which is a Yawata steel with a different chemistry, but identical yield strength. The

document certainly refers to WEL-TEN 80C, because all other sources, including other Yawata sources,

that mention WEL-TEN steels refer to WEL-TEN 80C. Most sources, for instance, Feld (1971a), put the

PC&F contract at 55,800 tons. Assuming the Yawata document (1969 t) refers to metric tons, that would

still leave a minimum of 5,100 tons from other sources. The interior web plate (plate 3) represents about

12 percent of the total area of a perimeter column panel. The 5,100 tons unaccounted for in the Yawata

contract is not inconsistent with the assertion that the interior web was usually fabricated from domestic

steel, while the remaining plates were fabricated from Yawata steel.

Several sources (ENR 1967; Monti 1967a §; White 1967a §; Feld 1967a §) indicate that Kawasaki Steel

also supplied PC&F, but apparently only 36 ksi grade (Feld 1967a §). Ronald Symes (2002 t), PC&F

chief engineer, could not remember any other foreign steel suppliers other than Kawasaki. However, the

fabricators only interacted with the Japanese import companies rather than with the steel mills directly.

Mitsui (now Mitsui USA) imported the Japanese steel for PC&F. Because the side plates and spandrels

are the primary structural components of the perimeter columns, and they were all fabricated from

Yawata steel, the properties of the perimeter columns can be based on the mechanical properties of the

Yawata steels.

During the 1960s, Yawata produced a number of named, proprietary grades (such as WEL-TEN and

YAW-TEN series) of weldable steels with specified minimum properties. Several of these named grades

supplied to PC&F (WEL-TEN 60, WEL-TEN 62, WEL-TEN 80C) are common in the contemporaneous

literature, and open literature publications (Ito 1965a, 1965b; Goda 1964) describe many of their physical

and mechanical properties other than specified minimum strength quite extensively. For two of the

named, proprietary grades that Yawata supplied to PC&F (WEL-TEN 60R and WEL-TEN 70), NIST has

been unable to find corroborating specifications or mechanical property data, even in consultation with

Nippon Steel. It is possible that these names were assigned simply for convenience for the

WTC construction. Chemically, WEL-TEN 60, 60R, and 62 are similar to contemporary ASTM A 588,

with their Cr additions and high silicon contents, though none would meet that specification exactly.

WEL-TEN 60, 62, and 70 are heat-treated steels, while WEL-TEN 60R is a hot-rolled steel.

22 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

WEL-TEN 80C is a Cr-Mo steel that is very similar to contemporary A 514 steels, and possibly could

have been manufactured to meet that contemporary specification. According to PC&F documents (Symes

1967c §), Yawata intended to supply grades that would meet the "ASTM A 441 -modified" specification

(see Table 3-2) of PONYA for the lower strength column plates. From the proposed specification, these

"A 441-modified" compositions were similar to contemporary A 588 steels, with their added Cr and use of Nb for strengthening. Their chemistries do not correspond to any other named grade of Yawata steel, for example WTL-TEN 50, WEL-TEN 55. YES 36, YES 40. or YAW-TEN 50. For the intermediate

strength plates (55 ksi, 60 ksi, and 65 ksi), Yawata intended to furnish heat-treated WEL-TEN grades for the thicker sections and the hot-rolled "A 441 modified" grades for the thinner sections. Tables 3-7 and

3-8 summarize these specifications and representative properties, obtained from a variety of documents.

Note that not all the sources agree on yield strength or chemistries, probably because Yawata could tailor the steels for specific applications. The entries at the top of the tables are for the steels that a PC&F

memo (Symes 1967c §) mentions, while the bottom entries detail representative data culled from many

literature sources for all grades of Yawata weldable steels.

NIST has located a total of six mill reports (tests performed at the Yawata rolling mill) describing

135 plates (Symes 1969b §; Barkshire 1969a §; White 1969c §) of Yawata steels: two for = 75 ksi, one

for F, = 70 ksi, two for F, = 50 ksi, and one for F, = 45 ksi. When the originals were microfilmed after the construction was completed, the technician did not rotate the landscape pages into portrait orientation, so the sheets only show the measured yield point, tensile strength, and elongation, but not chemistry. For

each steel, the measured yield strength of the plates increases with decreasing thickness. The thickest

WEL-TEN 62 plates ( / = 1.5 in.) typically have yield strengths 5 ksi greater than the specified yield

strength. The thinnest plates (/ = 0.375 in.) have yield strengths 15 ksi to 20 ksi greater than the stated yield strength. For the lower strength plates {F, = 45 ksi and F, = 50 ksi), the measured yield strength

increases less rapidly with decreasing thickness: to a first approximation, their strength is independent of

thickness. They average 7.4 ksi and 11. 8 ksi greater than the specified yield strength, respectively.

Contemporaneous documents indicate that PC&F also purchased V-series (White 1968a §, 2003 t) and

modified V-series plate from Bethlehem Steel (Symes 1967a §), EX-TEN and modified EX-TEN from

U.S. Steel (Symes 1967a §; White 2003 t; Barkshire 1968a §), and various Kaisaloy grades

(Barkshire 1968b §) from Kaiser steel, for use in the interior plates. The interior plate (plate 3, Fig. 2-3) is usually half the thickness of the side plates, and never exceeds 15/16 in. thick, and so

represents at most 5 percent of the mass of steel in the entire contract. Status reports from mid- 1968

indicate that PC&F phased out U.S. Steel and Kaiser and replaced them with Bethlehem as the only

domestic supplier (Barkshire 1968c §). Presumably, most of the inner web plates (plate 3, Fig. 2-3) in the columns near the impact floors were made from hot-rolled Bethlehem V-series steels. Table 3-9

summarizes the properties of the V-series (Alloy Digest 1970) and modified V-series

steels (Symes 1967b §).

In summary. NIST has extensive data from open literature sources for properties other than chemistry and

yield strength for the 65 ksi WEL-TEN 60, the 70 ksi WEL-TEN 62, and the 100 ksi WEL-TEN 80C.

Properties for the "A 441 -modified" grades and for WEL-TEN 70 and WEL-TEN 60R must be estimated

theoretically or experimentally.

NIST NCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 23
Chapter 3

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24 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

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NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 25
Chapter 3

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26 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

3.3.3 Core (Welded Box Columns)

Stanray Pacific Corp. fabricated the welded core columns in both buildings above the 9th floor. The

plans called for two grades of steel with 36 ksi and 42 ksi minimum yield strengths. Contemporaneous

documents (Morris 1967 §; Warner 1967 §) indicate that Stanray Pacific purchased at least 10,240 tons (of an estimated 32,000 tons) of plate from Colvilles Ltd. (rolled in the Dalzell Works, Motherwell,

Scotland). Telephone conversations with M. McKnight (McKnight 2003 t), fonnerly with the British

Steel Export Association, which imported the steel to the United States, confirmed Colvilles as a supplier

to Stanray Pacific. The rest of the plate (21,760 tons) came from Fuji Iron and Steel, Hirohata Works

(Morris 1967 §; Warner 1967 §). A report (Yamada 1967) of the first shipment of plates from Japan lists the plates as being A 36 and A 572 grade 42. This is not a mill report, however, so it not completely

certain that the higher strength plates were supplied to A 572, which was not listed in the Port Authority

contract. Later records (Tarkan 1969 §) include a mill sheet for a plate purchased from Nippon Kokan

Steel of Fukuyama, Japan. Because the sum of the Colvilles and Fuji contracts (32,000 tons) that Warner

reported (1967 §) is larger than the PONYA value (Feld 1971a) of the contract (31,100 tons), this was

probably an isolated, uncommon substitution. NIST has located a mill report for a single Fuji Steel A 36

plate (Morris 1969 §). and a third-party chemical analysis of a Colvilles plate (Wahon 1968 §)

(Table 3-10). Other than these, NIST has located no other mill records. See Table 3-1 1 for the search

details.

Table 3-10. Chemistry and mechanical property data for a Fuji Steel plate and a Colvilles

plate used for core columns.

TS El, Element Composition (mass %)

Description (ksi) (ksi) (%) C Mn Si Ni Cr V Cu P s Other Source

12.6 ton A 36 plate 3 in. by 65.5 in. by

453.75' in. Rolled at Hirohata w orks. Fuji

Steel; tested August 5. 1969.

38.4 64.9 32 0.2 0.96 0.2 ND ND ND ND 0.013 0.008 (a)

Chemical analysis of

a 6 in. by 52 in. by

18 ft 0.75 in. Colvilles A 36 plate Heat H218

Slab 1804H by

Materials Testing

Laboratory', Los

Angeles, CA,

February' 2, 1968.

ND ND ND 0.2 0.99 0.3 0.2 <0.01 0.005 0.2 0.017 0.035 0.01 Mo,

0.02 Co

(b)

a. Moms 1969.

b. Walton 1969. Key: C, carbon: Cr, chromium; Cu, copper; £/„ elongation to failure; F,, specified minimum yield strength; Mn, manganese;

ND, not determined; Ni, nickel: P. phosphorus; S, sulfur; Si, silicon; TS. tensile strength; V, vanadium.

A mid-1967 document (Warner 1967 §) indicates that Fuji Steel supplied all plates thinner than 1.75 in. Both Fuji and Colvilles supplied plates 1 .75 in. and thicker, but even there, Fuji supplied about 60 percent

of the total mass of steel used. In the fire and impact floors of WTC 1 (floor 94 to floor 98), only three of

the columns are welded, box columns, and all three are made from plate thinner than 1.75 in. In the fire and impact floors of WTC 2 (floor 78 to floor 84), only 9 of 52 welded box columns are made from plate

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 27
Chapter 3

1.75 in. or thicker. In terms of steel properties for modeling, then, the columns can be modeled with the

properties of the Fuji-supplied plates alone.

3.3.4 Core (Rolled Wide-Flange Shapes)

Montague-Betts Steel fabricated all the rolled, wide-flange (WF) shapes for the core columns, as well as

all the beams in both towers above the 9th floor. These rolled shapes represent a significant fraction of

the total core columns in the fire and impact zone. Above the 80th floor in WTC 2, more than half of the core columns were WF shapes, and above the 94th floor in WTC 1, 43 of the 46 columns are WF shapes.

The plans called for steels with 36 ksi, 42 ksi, 45 ksi, and 50 ksi minimum yield strengths, but very few of

the rolled shapes used the 45 ksi or the 50 ksi material. Various sources (Davis 2002 t; Yawata 1969 t)

confirm that Montague-Betts purchased about 12,000 tons (of a total contract of 25,900 tons) of A 36 and

A 441 wide flange shapes from Yawata Iron and Steel, Sakai Works. An additional 1,200 tons came from

Dorman-Long, Lackenby Works, Middlesborough, England (Gallagher 1968 §; Goode 1967 §). Given

the size of the Yawata contract, it is hkely that it represents the majority, if not all, of the WF core columns. Because Yawata engineers felt that the "A 441 -modified" composition was protected by a U.S.

Steel patent (Clarkson 1967 §), they also obtained permission to supply high-strength steel to different

"A 441 -modified" composition (see Table 3-3) with 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent mass fraction added

Ni (White 1967b §). Whether this approval represents a complete substitution of a Yawata specific

alternate "A 441 modified" for the original A 441 modified, or simply an alternate specification for use in limited instances, is unknown. Montague-Betts chief executive officer, William Davis (2002 t), who

worked on the project, confirmed that Montague-Betts also purchased steel from Bethlehem and U.S.

Steel, the only two domestic mills that produced 14 WF rolled sections heavier than 87 lb/ft (AISC 1973).

To date, NIST has found no mill records for chemistry or mechanical properties for any of the steels used

in the Montague-Betts contract. See Table 3-1 1 for the search details.

3.4 SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Preliminary searches used open literature sources of information, including trade journals, to locate

information on the various companies and steels involved in construction. Table 3-12 lists the journals

examined, and the strategy for locating WTC specific information. Table 3-13 lists similar information

for the databases and search strategies used to locate WTC information.

After identifying the fabrication companies, NIST contacted Laclede Steel Corporation, Nippon (formerly

Yawata) Steel, PACCAR (formerly Pacific Car and Foundry), Montague Betts, and Dovell Engineering,

and several former employees of Stanray Pacific and Pacific Car and Foundry. NIST did not attempt to contact fabricators that were only involved in the lower floors (Atlas Machine and Iron Works, Levinson,

Mosher, and Drier.) Table 3-1 1 summarizes these contacts and information. Most of the information in

this report came from the archives of the PANYNJ.

28 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

Table 3-11. Sources examined for mill reports and other construction information, other

than the PANYNJ archives.

Contact Background Result

Laclede Steel Corporation

David McGee

Larry Hutchison

Laclede fabricated the trusses for the

floor panels.

During Nov. 2002 NIST personnel visited Laclede, which shared material from its archive, including two mill test reports. Ronald Symes Former Chief

Engineer, PC&F

PC&F fabricated the perimeter

columns.

Symes did not retain any WTC documents

relating to steel properties, but he did have

infonnation on welding

Nicholas Soldano Former

general manager, PC&F

Soldano provided infonnation on steel substitutions, but had no WTC documents.

D. Bangert, VP for facilities PACCAR

PACCAR owned Pacific Car and

Foundry before selling it in 1974. PACCAR retained no records relating to any aspect of PC&F

Nippon Steel USA

Tomokatsu Kobayashi, VP

Nippon Steel fomied by the merger

of Yawata and Fuji Steel, which

together supplied most of the Japanese steel.

Nippon located several 1960s era data

sheets for Yawata WEL-TEN steels, but no mill test reports for steels used in the WTC.

Mitsui USA. Janet Garland Mitsui imported the steel for PC&F Mitsui has no WTC records.

Carl Lojic, former president.

Joseph Tarkan, former Chief

Engineer. Stanray Pacific

Stanray Corp closed its fabricating

business in 1969, and has apparently

gone out of business.

Neither Lojic nor Tarkan retained any

documents from the project.

Corns Construction &

Industrial Homi Sethna

Corus (formerly British Steel) owns

the works that rolled the thicker

plate for the welded core columns.

Corus was unable to locate any records from the WTC era.

Tonv Wall. President, Do\ ell Engineering

Dovell was the detailer for Stanray

Pacific. The Northridge earthquake damaged their building. During clean-up they disposed

of all WTC documents.

William Betts. CEO

Montague-Betts

Montague-Betts fabricated all rolled shapes above the 9th floor.Six years after completion,

Montague-Betts destroyed, as per company policy, all records relating to the WTC construction. Marubeni-ltochu Steel Tadashi Yaegashi Chief

Administrative Officer

Marubeni-ltochu succeeded

Marubeni-lida, which imported the Yawata steel for Montague-Betts.

"All sales transactions going back to the 1960's have been destroyed"

SGS US Testing Company

Rich Franconeri

SGS succeeded US Testing and The

Superintendence Co., both of which

inspected the Japanese steel.

SGS was unable to locate any documents

from that era.

Skilling, Ward. Magnussen,

and Barkshire (SWMB); Jon Magnussen. partner

SWMB is the successor to the

structural engineering firm that designed the towers.

SWMB retained no WTC records. They

transferred everything to LERA. NIST

has access to these records. Tishman Realty and

Construction; Linda

Christensen

Tishman was the general contractor

for the construction.

"[0]ur archive facility has standing orders

that any and all files over seven years in age are to be destroyed."

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 29
Chapter 3

Table 3-12. Trade journals examined for WTC steel information.

Journsl Sparch \1pthnd

Acier Stahl Steel 1966 to 1972 Tables of Contents.

Civil Engineer-ASCE 1965 to 1973 Index on WTC.

Engineering News Record 1967 to 1973 Index on WTC, New York

Also, see compilation volume of all articles published (ENR 1972) City.

The iron Age 1966 to 1968 Index on Japan, WTC,

structural steel, fabricator and steel company

name.

iron and Steel Page-by-page for 1968 to 1971.

Iron and Steel Engineer 1967 to June 1968 Table of Contents,

Dateline column. Industry news column.

Index is not topical.

Japan's Iron and Steel Industry 1967-1970 1967 to 1970 page-by-page.

Metal Construction Page-by-page.

Metal Progress Page-by-page.

Modem Steel Construction Tables of Contents. Nihon Kinzoku Gakkaishi (J. Jap. Inst. Metals) Cursory, WTC era.

Steel 1966 to 1969 Index on Japan, WTC,

fabricator and steel company name.

Transactions of the Iron and Steel Institute of Japan 1965 to 1969 lable or Contents and news

pages.

Stahlbau 1966 to 1973 Index under Hochbau.

Steelways

Structural Engineer 1966 to 1972 cursory. Welding Design and Fabrication Cursory.

West of Scotland Iron and Steel Institute Journal 1966 to 1969 Tables of Contents.

Table 3-13. Databases searched for WTC information.

Database Query Earliest year covered

Cambridge Scientific Databases:

Metadex, Weldasearch

Yawata

WTC

1966 (Metadex)

1967 (Weldasearch)

OCLC FirstSearch

Database: WorldCat

Search for steel periodicals—used to identify

possible additional sources of information

Search for library holdings of

contemporaneous steel catalogs. Also

searched on Alibris for used steel data sheets.

1 9th century

American Society of Civil Engineers Database

www.pubs.asce.org

WTC, Yawata, Stanray, Pacific Car and

Foundry: no useful information

1973

30 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Steel Specifications

Initially, NIST had hoped to find the mill test reports for the steel used, which would have provided

complete yield (F, ) and tensile strength and chemistry information for all the steels. Each fabricating

company, as part of the quality control program required by their contract with the Port Authority,

supplied this information to Tishman, the general contractor, to Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, &

Robertson (SHCR), the structural engineers, and to the Port Authority. Unfortunately, Laclede,

Montague-Betts (Davis 2003 t), PACCAR (Bangert 2002 t) (the new name of Pacific Car and Foundry),

SHCR (Magnussen 2002 t), and Tishman (Christensen 2003 f) all confinn that they have no mill reports

from that era.

NIST also contacted several of the inspection companies (Franconeri 2003 t) and the steel (Sethna 2003 t) and steel importing companies(Garland 2004 t; Yaegashi 20031) (Table 3-1 1) as well as Crest Steel, which some Stanray Pacific communications mention (Steinberg 2002 t)- AH confirmed that they retained no records relating to steel for the WTC.

NIST located six pages of mill reports for PC&F in the PANYNJ archives, and several individual mill

reports in the Laclede archives.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 31
Chapter 3

\

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32

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Chapter 4

Contemporaneous Construction Specifications

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 3, "Contemporaneous Steel Specifications" traces the sources and grades of steel used to fabricate structural steel components for the World Trade Center (WTC) towers. This chapter

supplements that information by extending further into the construction process, specifically adding

information on the fabrication (welding) of components and the erection of the buildings.

Laclede Steel manufactured the trusses for the floor panels for both WTC 1 and WTC 2 from steel they

made at their mill in Alton. Illinois. The chords of the trusses were fabricated from hot-rolled angles,

while the web was from hot-rolled round bar. The web and the chord angles were joined by resistance

welding (Laclede 1969).

Little information is available on the standards used for fabrication of the floor trusses. However, floor

joist standards existed since 1929. The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Manual (1972)

Standard Specifications for Open Web Steel Joists specifies that 36 ksi and 50 ksi minimum yield strength

steel are permitted in such bar joists, and that "Joint connections and splices shall be made by attaching

the members to one another by arc or resistance welding or other approved methods." A Technical Digest

from the Steel Joist Institute (Somers 1980) also confirms the use of resistance welding.

4.2.2 Exterior Wall Columns and Spandrels

The perimeter column panels, fabricated by Pacific Car and Foundry (PC&F), are composed of three important subassemblies: the columns, the spandrels, and the seats. A Welding Design and Fabrication

article (1970a) describes the fabrication sequence, which began with forming the inside wall of the

modules (using a butt joint to link the spandrel plates to the inner column webs), followed by the addition

of the sides and outer face of the columns by six simultaneous submerged arc welds. PC&F constructed a 16-station automated production line to keep up with the schedule of 55,800 tons of perimeter column

panels between November 1967 and August 1970, an average of 1,400 tons per month.

The construction contract states that the submerged arc electrodes used in the WTC were purchased to the requirements of ASTM Standard A 558 "Specification for Bare Mild Steel Electrodes and Fluxes for Submerged Arc Welding." This standard was withdrawn in 1969 and was replaced by an equivalent

American Welding Society (AWS) Standard A 5.17 "Bare Mild Steel Electrodes and Fluxes for Submerged Arc Welding." The period 1965 to 1969 was one of transition, during which AWS assumed

the responsibility of maintaining the standards for welding filler materials. Because the contract was

awarded in 1967, the fabrication was likely started with the requirements of the 1965 version of the

4.2 FABRICATION OF THE VARIOUS COMPONENTS

4.2.1 Floor Trusses

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 33
Chapter 4

ASTM Standard (ASTM A 558-65T, jointly published by AWS as AWS A 5.1 7-65T), but later perimeter

column panels may have included some minor changes associated with the conversion to the 1969 version

of the AWS Standard (AWS A 5.17-69). Distorted columns were straightened in the conventional manner by heating just after column assembly, so any low-strength areas in the steel plates and changes in microstructure should not be interpreted solely in terms of the airplane impact and subsequent fires.

The Welding Design and Fabrication article (1970b) further states that PC&F inspected the perimeter

column panel welds using either ultrasonic, or visual and magnetic particle techniques.

The inner wall assembly (the spandrels and inner plates of the perimeter column panels) was joined with

full penetration welds according to the requirements of AWS D 2.0 "Specifications for Welded Highway

and Railway Bridges." This probably refers to the 1966 version of AWS D 2.0. They may have chosen

this standard over D 1 .0 "Code for Welding in Building Construction" because, at the time, D 1 .0 was

limited to steel strengths under 60 ksi (Fenton 1966). AWS D 2.0 specifies various dimension and

strength requirements for the assemblies and their welds (e.g., paragraph 302 and 403). This standard,

like most standards, lags the steel technology of the time. Thus, it seems to be mostly designed around

the application of fairly old steels, like A 7, A 36, and A 373. However, newer steels, such as the higher

strength steels used in the WTC towers, could be used after formal approval.

Once the inner wall was ready, the columns were assembled from side plates, butt plates, diaphragm

plates, and flange plates (Welding Design 1970a). Once assembled and preheated, the plates were joined

in the main fillet weld gantry, a station that made six, 0.75 in (19 mm) fillet welds simultaneously along

the length of the perimeter column panel. Then the module was jacked 90 degrees, and the other six fillet welds were made along the length of the panel. At full production, this gantry laid down 2,900 lb (1,300 kg) of weld metal a day. These large fillet welds started 6 in. (150 mm) from the ends of the

columns, so manual welding was used to finish the welding of the ends and to make any repairs.

4.2.3 Core (Welded Box Columns)

Stanray Pacific Corp. fabricated the welded core columns in both buildings above the 9th floor. Like

PC&F, they used large assembly fixtures and triple submerged arc welding stations to achieve high

production rates. Review of some of the correspondence generated during the initial stages of the

fabrication shows the level of attention to welding and inspection details needed to meet the requirements

of Port of New York Authority (PONYA or Port Authority) and Skilling, Helle, Christiansen, &

Robertson (SHCR) as described below.

A September 1967 draft of the contract between PONYA and The United States Testing Laboratory

(a third-party inspector) lists the documentation that would be required of the work at Stanray Pacific

Corp. (White 1967c §). This contract prescribes daily and weekly written reports of components that are accepted, those that are rejected, and a summary of any problems, with copies going both to the

construction manager and to SHCR. In addition, a weekly report was sent with all the chemical and

physical (mechanical) tests perfonned. The inspectors checked the various steps from plate delivery

(checking heat number, specification conformance, and condition), through fabrication (alignment,

100 percent visual inspection of the welds, and selection of regions for nondestructive testing), to final inspection (perpendicularity of milled ends, overall length, cleaning, and marking). PONYA also had a procedure to inspect the steel from all sources. The procedure included double-checking the mill

34 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Construction Specifications

certificates by performing a tensile test and a check analysis on 1 out of 10 heats selected at random (Monti 1967b §). The requirements were still higher for steel with strengths above 50 ksi or from

foreign sources. The welding procedures, welders, and welding operators were qualified in accordance

with requirements of Appendix D of AWS Codes D 1.1 -66 and D 2.0-66. The welding electrodes for manual metal arc welding conformed to ASTM A 233-64T, E60 and E70 series (also AWS A 5.1-64T).

Mild steel electrodes and fluxes for submerged arc welding conformed to ASTM A 588-65T (also AWS

A 5.17-65T) and to Sec. 1.17.3 of the AISC Specification for Structural Steel Buildings.

By October 1967. welders were being qualified, magnetic particle inspector qualification was being

discussed (based on a minimum of 40 hours of training), and chemical analysis of the steel was underway

(Chauner 1967a). The level of inspector oversight continued to increase until by November 10 "U.S.

Testing inspectors are all over the place and recording a lot of information" (Chauner 1967b). The level of attention to detail increased even more after a surprise visit to Stanray by Hugh Gallagher, a PONYA

inspector, on November 20. 1967 (Gallagher 1967).

From reading the correspondence, it is apparent that toward the beginning of the contracts, the various

fabricators faced major (and perhaps unexpected) challenges introduced by both the tight production

schedule and PONYA and SHCR's strict quahty requirements.

4.2.4 Connections (Bolts and Welds)

The Port Authority contract allowed the use of ASTM A 307, A 325, and A 490 fasteners. The

WTC Design Standards book (p. DSl-6) calls for the use of ASTM A 325 bolts with no indication of

type. According to the standard, they would have therefore been supplied as Type 1 . As in the

contemporary version of ASTM A 325, Type 1 bohs in 1970 had F, = 120 ksi for diameters up to and

including 1 in. and F, =^ 105 ksi for larger diameters. ASTM A 325-70 does differ significantly from

ASTM A 325-02 in several ways. In particular, the specification for Type 2 bolts was withdrawn in 1991.

ASTM A 325-02 also admits three new chemistries for Type 1 bolts. In ASTM A 325-02, the

specification for Type 1 Carbon Steel bolts most closely approximates the Type 1 bolts of A 325-70.

Table 4-1 compares the chemistry requirements of the two standards. A 325-70 also admits a slightly

wider range of acceptable hardness, which is currently in Table 3 of A 325-02.

Spandrels of adjacent perimeter column panels were attached together with high-strength bolted shear

connections. Adjacent spandrels were butted to each other with splice plates on the inside and outside

(Fig. 2-3). For floors 9 to 107, each spandrel was connected to the splice plates with anywhere

from 6 bolts to 32 bolts, depending on design load. Splice plates were all 36 ksi steel regardless of

spandrel grade. Bolts for all connections between spandrels conformed to ASTM A 325. Minutes of a May 1967 (Feld 1967a) meeting between PC&F, PONYA, and Koch, state that no A 490 bolts were to be

used for the spandrel splice plates, and that only A 325 bolts were to be used there. "Bow-tie" spandrels

in trees below floor 9 were connected with heavy 42 ksi splice plates with A 325 or A 490 bolts in friction connections.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 35
Chapter 4

Table 4-1. Comparison of chemistry requirements for ASTM A 325

"Standard Specification for High-Strength Bolts for Structural Steel

Joints, including Suitable Nuts and Plain Hardened Washers" between

1970 and 2002 standard s.

Element

ASTM A 325-70

(% mass fraction)

Maximum

ASTM A 325-02

(% mass fraction)

Maximum

C 0.27 0.28-0.55

Mn 0.47 0.57 P 0.048 0.048

S 0.058 0.058

Si 0.13-0.32

Key: C, carbon; Mn, manganese; P, phosphorus; S, sulfur; Si, silicon. Note: Data are for product, not heat, analysis. Mechanical property requirements are identical between

versions.

Perimeter columns were bolted via the butt plates to those immediately above and below, with four bolts

in the upper stories and six bolts in the lower stories. Other than at the mechanical floors, panels were

staggered (Fig. 2-4) so that only one-third of the units were spliced in any one story. At the mechanical

floors, every column contained a splice, and columns were welded together as well as bolted.

Seats for the trusses that supported the floor were welded to spandrels in the perimeter column panels and

to channels or core columns at the central core. The trusses were positioned on the seats and held in place

with construction bolts until welded to the seats. The construction bolts generally remained in place after welding.

4.2.5 Construction (On-site Assembly)

During fabrication, Karl Koch Erecting Co. used a combination of bolting, shielded metal arc welding

(E7018), and gas metal arc welding (semiautomatic Fab Co 71 with CO2 shielding) to join the

components (Welding Design 1970b). The E7018 low-hydrogen shielded metal arc (SMA) electrode

would likely have been produced to ASTM Standard A 233-64T (also published by AWS as A 5.1-64T),

then AWS Standard A 5.1-69 for the later parts of the fabrication. The 3/32 in. (2.4 mm) diameter

Fab Co 71 (sic, probably should be FabCO 71, a trademark of Hobart Brothers Company) was an E70T-1

FCA electrode and would likely have been produced according to ASTM A 559 (withdrawn in 1969),

then AWS A5.20-69. Higher-strength SMA electrodes (ASTM A 316 until 1969, then AWS A 5.5-69) were also permitted by the contract. More than 48,000 lb (22,000 kg) of electrodes were used in each of

the towers (Welding Design 1970b). Koch used a combination of visual and ultrasonic inspection on the

joints. They estimated that rework would cost three times as much as the original weld, so they inspected

early and often to minimize any rework. One reason that rework was so expensive is that some welds

took as many as 200 passes, so they wanted to catch any problems before the later passes made access more difficult.

Perhaps the most common construction standard for buildings of the period was AWS D 1 .0 "Welding in Building Construction"(Fenton 1966). This document was subject to frequent revisions by the

responsible committee. Some versions that may have been specified for parts of the WTC towers were

the versions published in 1966, 1967, and 1968. The 1967 and 1968 revisions addressed issues such as

the details on the use of multiple-electrode submerged arc welding, more requirements on qualification of

36 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Contemporaneous Construction Specifications

the welders (especially tack welders), and the addition of radiographic inspection. Many of these

revisions may have been driven by the needs of the WTC design. Since the D2.0 code referenced in the

discussion on fabrication of perimeter column panels above only covers the use of submerged arc and

shielded metal arc welds (unless through special application of Section 5), use of D 1.0 (specifically

through the use of Section 502) might have been the easiest way to cover the use of FabCO 71 electrode.

Incidentally, the apparent misspelling of FabCO 71 in one of the references points out the problem of

inconsistencies in some of the references. The likely explanations include both faulty memories of some

details, but also changes that occurred after an article (perhaps based on the near-term construction plans)

went to press. An apparent example of the later case involves the plan to use electroslag welding to fabricate the "trees," the branching columns that formed the transition from the 10 ft (3 m) spacing of

columns in the lobby area to the 40 in. (1 m) spacing of columns for all the upper floors. Gillespie's

book (1999) describes the fabrication of these trees by electroslag welding. However, Koch's

book (2002) describes their inability to get the electroslag process operating under field conditions (in a location described as the "belly band." halfway up between the front doors and the branching of the

trees), so they welded all these large joints manually.

Examination of the perimeter columns shipped to NIST revealed arc welds at the ends of the trusses, where they were attached to the columns during erection. These welds supplemented the bolt attachment

at the seats, and were probably produced by gas metal arc or shielded metal arc electrodes.

NIST NCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 37
Chapter 4

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38

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Chapter 5

References

5.1 REFERENCES FROM PUBLICLY AVAILABLE SOURCES

This section lists references from the open literature, primarily magazine and journal articles and books.

Alloy Digest. 1965. WEL-TEN lOON. Serial #826.

Alloy Digest. 1967. WEL-TEN 50. Serial #966.

Alloy Digest. 1968. WEL-TEN 60-LT. Serial #1003.

Alloy Digest. 1969. WEL-TEN 80C-LT. Serial #1061.

Alloy Digest. 1970. Bethlehem V Steel. Filing Code SA-257.

Alpsten, G. A. 1975. Variations in mechanical and cross-sectional properties of steel. In Tall Building

Criteria and Loading vol. lb of Planning and design oftall buildings. Edited by Thomas C. Kavanagh et al. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers. 755-805.

American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) 1974. The Variation of Product Analysis and Tensile

Properties Carbon Steel Plates and Wide Flange Shapes. Contributions to the Metallurgy ofSteel

1-120.

American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). 1973. Manual ofSteel Construction. New York:

American Institute of Steel Construction.

American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). 1972. Standard specifications and load tables for open

web steel joists, longspan steeljoists, deep longspan steeljoists. New York: American Institute of

Steel Construction.

American Welding Society (AWS). 1 965. Tentative specification for bare mild steel electrodes and

fluxes for submerged-arc welding. New York: American Welding Society and American Society for Testing and Materials.

American Welding Society (AWS). 1966. Specifications for welded highway and railway bridges. New

York: American Welding Society.

American Welding Society (AWS) Structural Welding Committee. 1967. Addenda to D1.0-66 code for

welding in building construction on and SRI-65 gas metal-arc welding with carbon dioxide shielding.

New York: American Welding Society.

American Welding Society (AWS) Structural Welding Committee. 1968. Supplement to AWS Dl.0-66,

Codefor welding in building construction, and AWS D2. 0-66, Specifications for welded highway and

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 39
Chapter 5

railway bridges, on requirements for submerged arc welding with multiple electrodes. New York:

American Welding Society.

American Welding Society (AWS). Committee on Filler Metal. 1969. Specification for bare mild steel electrodes and fluxes for submerged-arc welding. New York: American Welding Society.

Brockenbrough, R. L. and B. G. Johnston. 1968. The structural steels and their mechanical properties.

Chap. 1 in USS Steel Design Manual. Pittsburgh: United States Steel Corporation.

Civil Engineering-ASCE. 1 970. World Trade Center shows on New York City skyline, 40:81

.

Engineering News Record (ENR). 1967. Steel Ahoy! November 11.

Engineering News Record (ENR). 1972. The World Trade Center its planning, finance, design and

construction as reported through the weeks for more than a decade. New York:McGraw-Hill

Feld, L. S. 1971. Superstructure for the 1,350-ft World Trade Center. Civil Engineering-ASCE. 41:66-

70.

Fenton, Edward A. 1966. Codefor welding in building construction. New York: American Welding

Society.

Gillespie, Angus Kress. 1999. Twin towers: the life ofNew York City's World Trade Center. New York:

New American Library.

Goda, S., T. Ito, H. Gondo, I. Kimura, and J. Okamoto. 1964. Present status of weldable high strength

steel, Yawata Technical Report (Yawata Seitetsu Kenkyu) 248:5086-5163.

Groner, Alex. 1981 . PACCAR The pursuit ofquality, Bellevue, WA: Documentary Book Publishers.

International Technical Information Institute. 1974. Handbook of Comparative World Steel Standards,

Tokyo.

Irving, R. R. 1968. Construction, a materials arena. T/je/ro^^ge November 1:59-66.

Ito, T., K. Moriyama, and Y. Sogo. 1965a. Usability of WEL-TEN 80C welded joints of high-tension

steel (in English). Yawata Technical Report (Yawata Seitetsu Kenkyu). 253:6307-6316.

Ito, T., K. Moriyama, and Y. Sogo. 1965b. Usability of WEL-TEN 80C Welded Joints of high-tension

steel (In Japanese). Yawata Technical Report (Yawata Seitetsu Kenkyu). 253 6232-6244 (1965).

Japan's Iron and Steel Industry. 1968. New products and processes. In Japan 's Iron and Steel Industry

1968 edition, edited by Sukeyuki Kawata. Tokyo: Kawata Publicity, Inc.

Koch, Karl and Richard Firstman. 2002. Men ofsteel: the stoiy ofthe family that built the World Trade

Center. New York: Crown Publishers.

40 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
References

McAllister, T., ed. 2002. World Trade Center Building Performance Study: Data Collection,

Preliminaiy Obsenations, and Recommendations. FEMA403. Federal Emergency Management

Agency. Washington, DC, May.

Otani, M. 1966. Fundamental properties of high tension steel (in Japanese). Yawata Technical Report

(Yawata Seitetsu Kenkju). 257:7066-71 17.

Rodengen, Jeffrey L. 2000. The Legend of Trinity. Fort Lauderdale, Fl: Write Stuff Enterprises.

Somers, Robert E. and Theodore V. Galambos. 1980. Welding of Open Web SteelJoists. Technical

Digest No. 8. Steel Joist Institute Richmond, VA. Based on inclusion of statistics on U.S. joist

production in 1979.

Stanray Corp. 1970. 1 969 Annual Report.

Stanray Corp. 1971. 1 970 Armual Report.

Welding Design and Fabrication. 1970a. Weldmg and fabricating 55,000 tons of steel for the World

Trade Center, July:50-52.

Welding Design and Fabrication. 1970b. Welding and inspecting the World Trade Center-giant among

giants, February: 5 3-5 6.

Woldman's Engineering Alloys. 1990. Materials Park, OH: ASM International.

Zaizen, T. K.Moriyama, and M.Kawshima. 1968. On the Yawata's structural steel plates for low

temperature applications. Yawata Technical Report (Yawata Seitetsu Kenkyu). 262:8239-8250.

5.2 PRIVATE COMMUNICATIONS

The text denotes with the symbol t references that are private communications or unpublished works, but

that are not bound by any material transfer agreement. All contemporaneous memoranda referring to Laclede are from the Laclede archives in Alton, II. NIST obtained Yawata documents from Nippon Steel USA, New York office.

Bangert, D. 2002. Telephone interview with William Luecke. Confirmation that PACCAR has no

records of the WTC contract. Structural steel division was sold "years ago." October 21.

Bay, R. D. 1 968. Memorandum No. 1 1

, Laclede internal memorandum showing grades of steel for bar

joists, February 28.

Brown, Dale. 2002. Telephone interview with Richard Fields. Brown, the Laclede metallurgist during

the WTC construction, confirmed that for ASTM A 36, Laclede would have specified a microalloyed

steel similar to current ASTM A 572. November 20.

Christensen, Linda (VP and General Counsel, Tishman Construction). 2003. Letter to WilHam Luecke.

Tishman has retained no records from the World Trade Center construction, in response to letter sent on 19 February. April. 2

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 41
Chapter 5

Davis, William. 2002. Telephone interview with William Luecke. Montague Betts furnished rolled

beams for the core of both towers as well as the antenna base for one tower. He remembered about

60 percent of the steel was American, and the rest was Japanese or British. Confirmed that they did

buy steel from Yawata, and that Yawata had better tolerances than the US steel mills did. All records

of the job were destroyed after 6 years. Montague Betts closed its steel operations in 1992.

November 5.

Franconeri, Rich. 2003. Letter to William Luecke. SGS U.S. Testing Company was unable to locate any

records relevant to the World Trade Center. April 25.

Garland, Janet. 2004. Electronic mail to William Luecke. Mitsui and Co. USA, New York office. confinns that they have no records relevant to steel imported for the World Trade Center. January 20.

Kamper, H. G. 1968. Internal Laclede memo to R. D. Bay shows chemistry and yield strength for

A 242 steel. August 8.

Laclede Steel. 1968. Standard Resistance and Arc Weld Connections used in Truss Manufacture.

February 28.

Magnusson, Jon D. 2002. Letter to William Luecke. Skilling Ward Magnussen Barkshire (the current name of SHCR) has "absolutely no documents relating to the WTC at our firm here in Seattle." November 12.

McKnight, M.E. 2003. Telephone interview with William Luecke. January 21.

Steinberg, P. 2002. Electronic mail to William Luecke. Steinberg worked for Crest Steel in the 1 960s,

which supplied steel to Stanray Pacific. They have no records from that era. December 26

Symes, R.C. 2002. Telephone interview with William Luecke. PC&F made a serious effort to follow

the 5 ksi yield stress increments as noted in the plans. December 20.

Tarkan, Y.N. 2002 Telephone interview with William Luecke. Tarkan was chief engineer for Stanray

Pacific. He remembered that all the steel for Stanray's contract came from Japan. When questioned

about the Crest Steel note in the LERA documents, he thought that Crest might have been the

distributor for that Japanese mill (Nippon Kokan). December 17.

Wall, Tony. 2002. Telephone interview with William Luecke. Former president of Dovell Engineering

is in no position to provide details of the World Trade Center construction. December 3.

White, James. 2003. Telephone interview with William Luecke. PC&F used (in addition to Yawata)

U.S.S. and Bethlehem Steel for plates (probably for F, less than 60 ksi). February 11.

White, James. 1969b. Memo from SHCR to R.D. Bay (Laclede), returning mill test reports for A 242

steel. Laclede Steel Archives December 29.

Yaegashi, Tadashi 2003 Letter to William Luecke. Marubeni-Itochu Steel America confirms that they

have no records relating to steel imported for the World Trade Center. February 7.

42 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
References

Yawata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. 1969. New York World Trade Center Building. Internal Yawata

document.

Yawata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. 1969b. WEL-TEN 80. Data sheets for WEL-TEN 80 steel.

5.3 REFERENCES FROM NONPUBLIC SOURCES

The text denotes with the symbol § references that are private communications or unpublished works

bound by material transfer agreements.

Barkshire. Art. 1968a. Internal SHCR report to J. White on fabrication at PC&F. Contains 5 page

attachment showing instances of U.S. S. steel used in columns mostly in floors 20 to 30 Tower not

specified 7 pages. May 15.

Barkshire. Art. 1968b. Internal SHCR to J. White showing spandrel plate of Kaisaloy 50-SG in panel

203-16-19A. 6 pages. December 4.

Barkshire. Art. 1968c. Internal SHCR memo to J. White stating that USS and Kaiser are being phased

out as suppliers with Bethlehem (Seattle) and Japanese mills furnishing all steel. 2 pages with

5 pages attached. June 5.

Barkshire, Art. 1969. Comer Panel Stiffener Plates Memo to R Symes (PC&F) approving substitution of

steel. Contains three Yawata mill reports. 6 pages. January 23.

Chauner, Richard, 1967a. Internal SHCR memo to James White. October 27.

Chauner, Richard, 1967b. Internal SHCR memo to James White. November 10.

Clarkson. William W. 1967. Memo from Montague-Betts Steel to R.M. Monti (PONYA) requesting

permission to have Yawata supply steel similar to ASTM A 441 -modified but with 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent mass fraction Ni, to avoid the US Steel patent on the A 441 -modified composition.

October 9.

Equivalent Carbon Contents. 1967. Worksheet that calculates equivalent carbon content for various

steels. It indicates that steel would be supplied in 5 ksi intervals. Chemistries correspond to "Yawata

Proposition." June 23.

Feld, Lester S. 1967. Internal PONYA memo to H. Tessler summarizing meeting between PC&F, Koch,

Tishman, SHCR, and PONYA to discuss engineering changes. Discusses spandrel plate splices,

A 325 bolts, not using A 490 boUs for the spandrel splices, and a statement by N. Soldano (PC&F)

that Yawata would furnish imported steel with F,>36 ksi, and Kawasaki would furnish 36 ksi steel.

5 pages. May 9.

Gallagher, H.B. 1968. Internal PONYA memo W. Borland detailing inspection trip to Great Britain to

visit Colvilles mills at Motherwell and Mossend, and Dorman-Long. May 15.

Gallagher, Hugh. 1967. Internal PONYA memo to D. Brown. December 11.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 43
Chapter 5

Goode, Bob. 1967. Internal SHCR memo to Leslie Robertson on Worthington, Skilling, Helle, Jackson

letterhead stating that Dorman-Long will produce 1,200 t of wide flange (WF) sections for MontagueBetts. September 8.

Monti, R.M. 1967a. Letter from PONYA to R.C. Symes (PC&F) mentioning discrepancies between

purchase orders and inspection reports for Kawasaki steel plates. August 21.

Monti, R.M. 1967b. Memo to R. Morris (Stanray Pacific). November 13.

Morris, R.E. 1969. Letter to James White (SHCR) with attached mill test report for Fuji Steel Plate that appears in other documents. September 10.

Morris, R.E. 1967. Letter from Stanray Pacific to R.M. Monti (PONYA) showing Colvilles (British

Steel Export Assn.) and Fuji Steel as source of plate for contract. September 8.

Port of New York Authority (PONYA). 1967. The World Trade Center Contract WTC-214.00

Fabricated Steel Exterior Wall 9''' Story Splice to RoofNorth and South Tower. This contract was

between PONYA and PC&F, but the materials chapters of the Laclede (WTC 22 1 , Laclede) contract

are identical. February 25.

Port of New York Authority (PONYA). 1967. The World Trade Center Contract WTC-214.00

Fabricated Steel Exterior Wall 9''' Stoiy Splice to RoofNorth and South Tower. Clause 1 of the contract between PONYA and PC&F defines the terni Engineer (who was responsible for approving

proprietary steels) as follows. "'Engineer' shall mean the Chief of the Planning and Construction

Division of the World Trade Center of the World Trade Department of the Authority for the time

being, or his successor in duties, acting personally or through his authorized representative, except

where provided herein to be acting personally, who is at present the Construction Manager of the

World Trade Center." February 25.

Port of New York Authority (PONYA). 1967. Change slip DM-1 16 to Stanray Pacific. June 6.

Skilling, Helle, Christiansen and Robertson (SHCR). 1967. World Trade Center Structural Drawing

Books.

Symes, R.C. 1969a. Memo from PC&F to M Gerstman (Tishman) requesting adjustment to payment

because of steel changes. States that plates 1, 2, and 4 (flange, outside web, and spandrel) were made

from imported steel (presumably Yawata) and plate 3 (inside web) was fabricated from domestic

steel. Also contains a table showing tons of steel used by grade and thickness. 6 pages PCF#T-40.

February 5.

Symes, R.C. 1969b. Memo PC&F to R.M. Monti (PONYA) requesting approval for material

substitution, contains F, = 45 ksi and F, - 50 ksiYawata mill reports. February 24.

Symes, R.C. 1967a. Memo from PC&F to R Monti (PONYA) requesting approval of Bethlehem

V-series steels outside of the published plate sizes. 2 pages. Denied without full information on September 8, 1967, requested again with further documentation on November 2, 1967. Provisionally

approved November 18, 1967 (no PCF letter #). August 14.

44 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
References

Symes, R.C. 1967b. Letter PC&F to R Monti (PONYA) requesting approval to use modified Bethlehem

V-series steels outside the published thickness range, with full specifications attached. (PCF #666-

39) 7 pages Approved November 30, 1967. November 2.

Symes, R.C. 1967c. Memo from PC&F to R.M. Monti (PONYA) including Yawata data sheets. June 6.

Tarkan, Y.N. 1969. Memo from Stanray Pacific to James White (SHCR) requesting approval for use of a welded plate. Includes mill sheet showing that the plate originated from Nippon Kokan Steel

Fukuyama Works and was supplied by Crest Steel. August 12.

Walton, W.E. 1968. Letter to Malcolm Levy (PONYA) with attached ultrasonic and metallurgical report

(Magnaflux Corp) on plate of "British" (i.e., Colvilles) steel. Details chemical analysis, weld quality

and (poor-quality) micrographs. February 8.

Warner, H.L. 1967. Memo from Stanray Pacific to Malcolm Levy (PONYA) detaihng distribution of

plate thicknesses between British and Japanese steels. Total is 32 000 tons. July 7.

White, James. 1969a. Memo from SHCR to R. Monti (PONYA) documenting use of heat-treated steel above (PC&F) and below (PDM) the 9th floor splice. Contains statement that plate 3 (inside web) was fabricated from domestic steel, while plates 1, 2, and 4 (flange, outside web, and spandrel) are imported steel. Also contains table that shows where ASTM 441 -modified and WEL-TEN grades were used, by thickness and yield strength. 28 pages. July 28.

White, James. 1969c. Memo approving the April 4, 1969 PC&F steel substittitions. Has WEL-TEN 62

mill report. May 2.

White, James. 1968a. Memo from SHCR to RM Monti (Port Authority) approving PC&F substitution of

Fy = 100 ksi steel for Fy - 90 ksi steel in exterior columns. February 15.

White, James. 1968b. Memo from SHCR to R.M. Monti (Port Authority) approving use of Bethlehem

V60, V65, and V75 steels as specified for PC&F. January 4.

White. James. 1967a. Memo from SHCR to R.M. Monti (PONYA) asking for clarification on origin of

Japanese 36 ksi steel (Yawata or Kawasaki). 2 pages. September 6.

White, James. 1967b. Memo from SHCR to R.M. Monti (PONYA) approving Ni-containing

A 441 -modified steel. Has two-page specification for Yawata A 441 -modified. October 18.

White, James. 1967c. Memo to PONYA. September 1.

Yamada, H. 1967. Memo from Marubeni-Iida, the firm that imported the Fuji steel for Stanray Pacific,

to PONYA, listing 1,441 tons of A 36 and A 572 grade 42 steel plates up to 3 in. thick. Plates are 36 ft 3/4 in. long and 36 in. to 94 5/8 in wide. July 18.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 45
Chapter 5

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46 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Appendix A

Steel Companies Involved in the World Trade Center

Most of the fabrication firms that worked on the steel for the World Trade Center (WTC) are no longer in business. This section summarizes the contributions of each of the major steel firms involved, and their current status.

A.1 ATLAS MACHINE AND IRON WORKS

Contract WTC2 12.

Atlas fabricated the 27 in. by 32 in. perimeter box columns, spandrels, and X-bracing below the 4th

floor (Feld 1971) (13,600 tons). This contract was the first major use of electroslag welding in the United

States (Feld 1971).

Most recent address:

Atlas Machine and Iron Works

13951 Lee Highway

Gainesville. VA 22065

Arthur X. Miles, President and Registered Agent

The Virginia Corporation Commission indicates that Atlas went out of business in 1999. The address is

at the intersection of US29 and 1-66 in Gainesville, Virginia. A drive past the site on November 24, 2002,

confirmed that it is inactive.

A.2 DRIER STRUCTURAL STEEL

Drier fabricated the foundation load distribution system (base plates and grillages) (Feld 1971). No

information is available on its current status.

A.3 DOVELL engineering

Dovell was the detailer for Stanray Pacific. (The detailer makes the detailed engineering drawings of the

columns and beams.)

Current address:

9901 Paramount Blvd, Suite 202

Downey, CA 90241

562-927-4770

Dovell President, Tony Wall (Wall 2002 f), indicated that the former owner, who was active in the WTC project, is not in a position to provide details of the WTC project.

A.4 GRANITE CITY STEEL

Granite City fabricated the electrical/telephone ducts and the floor deck system (Feld 1971).

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 47
Appendix A

A.5 HOBART BROTHERS CO./ITW

Hobart provided the electrodes used for on-site erection by Karl Koch Erecting Company.

ITW purchased it several years ago, but it still maintains its headquarters in Ohio.

Current address:

400 Trade Square East Troy, OH 45373

www.hobartbrothers.com

A.6 KARL KOCH ERECTING COMPANY

Koch erected the towers (McAllister 2002).

Skanska, an international construction company, purchased Koch in 1982. Karl Koch III wrote a book

"Men of Steel" that includes information about the project (Koch 2002).

A.7 LACLEDE STEEL CO.

Contract WTC226.

Laclede fabricated the trusses for the floor system (Feld 1971). It entered bankruptcy on November 30,

1998, but re-emerged in January 2001 only to reenter bankruptcy again July 27, 2001 . At the time of the

NIST WTC Investigation, a group of fonner employees had purchased the assets.

Current address:

2 1 1 N Broadway

St Louis, MO 63102

314-425-1400

A.8 LEVINSON STEEL

Contract WTC230.

Levinson fabricated the below-grade area (12,000 tons of 14WF sections), the plaza, and the damping

units (Feld 1971). Metals USA acquired Levinson in March 1998. The www.metalsusa.com web site does not list any information on Levinson, however. Metals USA went bankrupt in August 2001, but was

reported to be emerging from bankruptcy on October 3 1

, 2002.

A.9 MONTAGUE-BETTS

Contract WTC226.

Montague-Betts fabricated all the rolled columns and beams in the core of both towers, 25,900 tons (Feld 1971). Their contract was for "all rolled columns and beams, including cover-plated sections

throughout both towers. . .including horizontal trusses on 2nd floor., and exterior wall steel above

107th floor and the weldments for supporting future T.V. masts." (Feld 1971).

48 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation
steel Companies Involved in ttie World Trade Center

Current address of former owners: 1619 Wythe Rd

PO Box 11929

Lynchburg. VA 24501

William Davis, President

434-522-3200

William Da\ is (2002 t), son of the founder, confirmed that they furnished all the rolled beams for the core of both towers as well as the antenna base. Montague-Betts closed its steel fabrication business in 1992, though the family still owns a majority interest in one steel fabrication business in Lynchburg.

A.10 MOSHER STEEL

Mosher fabricated the elevator core framing system to the 9th floor (Feld 1971) (13,000 tons).

Trinity Industries acquired Mosher Steel in November 1973, which is still in business. Rodengen's

(2000. p. 58) book has only a partial chapter on Mosher, and only notes that it "shipped more than

1 3.000 tons of steel for the lower portion. . ."

A.1 1 PACIFIC CAR AND FOUNDRY

Contract WTC2 14.

Pacific Car and Foundry fabricated the perimeter column panels from the 9th to 107th floors (Feld 1971),

55,800 tons. It changed its name to PACCAR in 1972. As PACCAR, they manufacture Kenworth and

Peterbih trucks.

Current address:

PACCAR Inc. 777 106th Avenue N.E.

Bellevue, WA 98004

Telephone 425-468-7400, Fax 425-468-8216

Dick Bangert (2002 t) (VP for facilities) confirmed that PACCAR sold the structural steel division

"years ago" and has no records from that business. Ron Symes (2002 t), chief engineer for PC&F

during the WTC construction, confirmed that the division was sold in 1974. The PACCAR corporate

history (Groner 1981 ) reports that the WTC contract was not profitable for the Structural Steel Division

because it had estimated the job based on shipping the completed sections by barge to New York, but were unable to obtain insurance to do that. As a result, they had to ship by rail, which nearly doubled the

shipping costs. These losses, plus concessions to settle strikes in 1969 and 1970, sent the division into a decline from which it never recovered. Nicholas Soldano (2002 t), former general manager, remembered

that the metals recycler Schnitzer bought the Seattle property where the perimeter columns were

fabricated.

A.12 PITTSBURGH-DES MOINES STEEL

Pittsburgh-Des Moines (PDM) fabricated the perimeter bifurcation columns from the 4th to 9th floors,

6,800 tons (Feld 1971). The bifurcation columns are also referred to as the "tuning forks" or the trees. Civil Engineering (1970) reported that Lukens Steel "supplied seven basic grades of carbon and alloy

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 49
Appendix A

plate steels for use in the welded 'trees. . . steels meet yield strength requirements from 36,000 to 65,000 min psi." Reliance Steel and Aluminum (www.rsac.com) acquired PDM Steel Service Centers in July 2001.

A.13 STANRAY PACIFIC CORP

Stanray Pacific fabricated the welded core box columns and built-up beams above the 9th floor,

31,100 tons (Feld 1971).

The California business portal report indicates that the company is no longer in business (Record #

C0388500). According to its annual reports, the parent corporation, Stanray (1969, 1970), decided to close the Stanray Pacific (based in Los Angeles, Cahfomia) subsidiary during 1969. This was confirmed

by Joe Tarkan, Stanray Pacific chief engineer for the WTC contract (Tarkan 2002 t)-

50 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Appendix B

Notes on ASTM Standards for Structural Steel

This appendix summarizes the important aspects of the relevant standards that governed the structural

steel supplied and compares contemporary (current) and contemporaneous (1960s) standards. In general,

the differences between the contemporaneous and contemporary standards are minor, and are usually

additions or deletions of individual steel chemistries or small changes in test protocol. However, because

of these changes, it is possible that a steel that met a construction-era version of a standard might not meet

that same standard today, because the chemistry or elongation requirements have changed. This

statement should not be interpreted to mean that the steel in question as used was unsuitable, however.

The ASTM International (ASTM) defines a standard as "a document that has been developed and

established with the consensus principles of the Society and that meets the approval requirement of

ASTM procedures and regulations." A standard may be a document that specifies the properties of a

material, as in the case of steel standard specifications such as A 36. Other standards are test methods

that define the way in which the properties in a specification must be measured. An example of this is A 370, which defines the test methods for establishing the strength of steel. An important aspect of

ASTM standards is that they are consensus documents, established by committees where membership is open to all individuals and organizations. Except for military construction, the United States government

does not establish structural steel standards for the industry. Instead, the ASTM committees that establish

steel standards t>'pically have members from both the producing and consuming segments of the industry.

The standards they produce allow the producers and consumers to efficiently specify materials, without

requiring them to include all possible properties and methods in a contract. This report, to avoid

confusion with other uses, will use the term "standard" to refer to all ASTM documents, regardless of

their status as Specifications, Test Methods, Terminology Standards, or Practices.

ASTM issues its standards annually in a multi-volume "Annual Book of ASTM Standards," but revises an individual standard only when the committee in charge sees a need. ASTM does require that standards

be reauthorized every five years, even if they have not been revised. The designation of a standard, for example A 36-66. comprises t\\'o parts. The first (for example "A 36") is a shorthand for the general

chemistry and mechanical property requirements, in the case of structural steels. Following the

designation is a two digit number denoting the most recent revision year of the standard (for example "-

66," which denotes a substantial revision in 1966). The steel fabrication contracts stipulated that the

appropriate standards were those in effect in September 1966. In some cases the relevant standard was

not revised in 1966, and so bears a prior year revision mark.

An individual ASTM standard does not contain all the information to uniquely characterize the steel. Instead, there is a "chain of standards" that defines the properties of the steel. The World Trade

Center (WTC) steel contracts allowed the use of steels that conformed to certain ASTM standards

(e.g., A 36, A 242 A 441, A 514). These standards define the mechanical and chemical properties of the

steels, but in turn reference other standards that define how those properties shall be measured. For

instance, all the steel standards, then and now, require that the steel conform to ASTM A 6

("Requirements for Delivery of Structural Steel"), which specifies the dimensional tolerances of plates

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation 51
Appendix B

and rolled shapes. Additionally, A 6 requires that mechanical property tests shall be conducted in accordance with ASTM A 370 ("Standard Methods and Definitions for Mechanical Testing of Steel

Products"). Although ASTM A 370 refers to ASTM E 8 ("Test Methods for Tension Testing of Metallic

Materials'") in general, it specifically restricts the test methods for establishing the properties of structural

steel products. The important restrictions on test technique for structural steel are in A 370, and not in E8.

As an example, the chain of standards for A 36 steel is

A 36

Chemistry and

mechanical

property

requirements

->A6 ^A370 -»E6

Tolerances for Methods for Definitions of terms

delivery and determining for mechanical

requirements for mechanical properties

determining properties

chemical and

mechanical

^ properties

The rest of this appendix describes the minor differences between the ASTM standards that governed

structural steel used for construction of the WTC, and those that exist today.

B.1 A 6-65 VS. A 6-02

ASTM A 6-65 "Standard Specification for General Requirements for Delivery of Rolled Steel Plates,

Shapes, Sheet Piling and Bars for Structural Use,"' specifies the tolerances for structural steel. Most of

A 6 is devoted to specifying the dimensional tolerances on finished steel products. Both versions specify

that mechanical properties shall be determined in accord with A 370. At some point ASTM editorially

amended the title of the standard to its present version "Standard Specification for General Requirements

for Rolled Structural Steel Bars, Plates, Shapes, and Sheet Piling." A 6-02 is a much longer and more

complex document than A 6-65.

For determining mechanical properties, A 6-65 specifies the size and shape of test specimens, while

A 6-02 references (similar) specimens in A 370. Table B-1 summarizes the significant differences

between A 6-65 and A 6-02. Two differences are particularly significant. A 6-65 specifies that steels shall be tested in the rolling direction (longitudinally), but A 6-02 requires most plates to be tested in the transverse direction. The location of specimens from shapes is also different: in A 6 they are always

taken from the web, but in A 6-02 for the large shapes used for columns, the specimen is taken from the

flange. Typically, because the flange is thicker than the web, the flange yield stress will be less than the

web yield stress (Alpsten 1975, AISC 1974). In summary, to conform to A 6, most A 36 specimens

would have been tested full thickness. Core column steels would have been permitted to use the round

0.5 in. (12.7 mm) diameter specimen because of their thickness. Thin perimeter column plates would

have been tested full thickness.

52 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Notes on ASTM Standards for Structural Steel

able B-1. Differences in specimen sampling requirements between A 6-65 and A 6-02e.

Shape Specimen Location Orientation Specimen type and size A 6-65

Beams, channels or zees Web (Sec. 6.4) Longitudinal

(Sec. 6.3) Full-thickness

(Sec. 6.5)

Shapes or plates

except alloy steel plates over 1.5 in. thick

Generally specified as comer in product

specifications, but no

apparent restrictions on

position within

thickness for non-full-thickness

specimens.

Longitudinal

(Sec'^6.3) Full-thickness

(Sec. 6.5)

18 in. long specimen with 8 in. gage length

or straight-sided specimen. For />1.5 in. can use 0.505 in. diameter round specimen

with 2 in. gage length

Alloy steel plates

0.75<K=1.5 in.

Longitudinal May use a round specimen with

J = 0.505 in. very similar to A 370 02

Fig. 4

Alloy steel plates >1.5 in. thick

Longitudinal May use a round specimen with

J = 0.505 in. very similar to A 370 02

Fig. 4 A 6-02e

Shapes: t < 0.75 in. If u >6 in. from the

flange, otherwise from

the web (Sec. 11.3.2)

Full thickness

(Sec. 11.5.1)

Longitudinal

(SecT 11.2)

8 in. or 2 in. gage length flat specimen

A 370 Fig. 3

Shapes: t > 0.75 in. 0.5 in. diameter round specimen (A 370

Fig. 4) or full thickness flat specimen

(A 370 Fig. 3) if desired

Plates: / < 0.75 in. Comer (Sec. 11. 3.1) Full thickness

(Sec. 11.5.1) Transverse if H>24 in. (Sec.

11.2)

8 in. or 2 in. gage length specimen A 370

Fig. 3

Plates: P>0.75 in. 0.5 in. diameter round specimen (A 370

Fig. 4) or full thickness flat specimen

(A 370 Fig. 3) if desired

In terms of chemistry, A 6-65 does not require any special method be used to determine the chemistry of

the steel. In contrast, A 6-02 specifies that chemistry is to be determined in accord with ASTM A 751

("Standard Test Methods, Practices, and Terminology for Chemical Analysis of steel products"). The

chemistry requirements have also been moved between standards. A 6-65 specifies two types of chemical

analysis. The so-called ladle analysis is conducted at the steel mill. The end user may specify a "check"

analysis of the finished product. All of the contemporaneous steel standards (e.g., A 36-66, etc) specify

compositions determined in both ladle and check analyses, where the check analyses are slightly relaxed

from the ladle analyses. In contemporary standards, the check analysis values (now called product

analysis) have been removed from the standards to a single table in A 6-02. A spot check of the some of

these for A 36-01 and A 242-01 indicates that the values listed in Table B of A 6-02 ("Pennitted

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 53
Appendix B

Variations in Product Analysis") are identical to the values listed under check analysis in the

contemporaneous steel standards of the 1960s.

An interesting restriction of A 6-02 that is not explicitly stated in A6-66 is that there is no corresponding

product analysis for mechanical properties. Effectively, once the mill has certified the heat of steel as confonning to the mechanical property requirements of the standard, the user must accept this. Any

requirements for product analysis of mechanical properties are beyond the scope of the standard.

Fonnally, then, it is not possible to certify that a specimen taken from recovered WTC steel meets a given

standard, because strength testing must take place at the mill. Conversely, should a specimen taken as

part of the investigation exhibit a yield point or strength less than the applicable standard, this does not imply that the steel as a whole did not meet the standard. A 6-02 makes this quite clear:

X2.1 The tension testing requirements of Specification A 6/A 6M are intended only to characterize the tensile properties of a heat of steel for determination of confonnance to the requirements of the material

specifications. These testing procedures are not intended to define the upper or lower limits of tensile properties at all possible test locations

within a heat of steel. It is well known and documented that tensile properties will vary within a heat or individual piece of steel as a function of chemical composition, processing, testing procedure and

other factors. It is, therefore, incumbent on designers and engineers to use sound engineering judgement (sic) when using tension test resuhs

shown on mill test reports. The testing procedures of Specification

A 6/A 6M have been found to provide material adequate for normal

structural design criteria.

Thus, the results of contemporary tension tests on WTC steels can only be used to assert that the steel in question is of a quality that could reasonably be expected to meet a given ASTM standard. It may be that an individual tension test might result in a measured yield point less than that acceptable in the standard.

As long as the measured yield point is close to the specified minimum, the steel in question probably met

the requirements of the standard.

B.2 A 370-67 VS. A 370-02

ASTM A 370, "Standard Methods and Definitions for Mechanical Testing of Steel Products," controls the

methods used for mill acceptance testing of heats (or plates) of steel. Aside from minor revisions in 1966,

to incorporate A 443 ("Method of Notch Toughness of Turbine and Generator Steel Forgings") A 370-67

is identical to A 370-66.

By and large A 370-67 and A 370-02 are very similar. Although the section numbers are different, much

of the text is unchanged over the past 35 years. Table B-2 summarizes the important differences between

the two documents as they relate to tensile testing. As long as the loading rates are specified as the

maximum rate in A 370-02, the test results will also meet A 370-67.

54 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Notes on ASTM Standards for Structural Steel

Table B-2. Differences between A 370-67 and A 370-02.

A 370-67 A 370-02

Section lOd suggests that tests defined in tenns of

strain rate are acceptable, but not feasible with

production grade equipment

Section 7.4. specifically allows tests defined in terms of strain rate

No such language. Note 2 specifically disallows tests in load control No restriction on miniinum extension rate for tests Section 7.4.1 requires that minimum speed for testing

shall not be less than one-tenth of the maximum rate for detennining yield point or yield stress No such language Allows maximum testing rate to be less than 100,000

psi, min

Section 13 (Determination of yield point) has different language but is similar in spirit

Section 12(b)(1) specifies a so-called "divider method"

for measuring yield point.

Absent from Section 13

In section 13 (determination of yield strength) the order of the methods is reversed.

In Section 13 the extension under load method may "be

used only when the product specification permits."

No such recommendation

Section 13 allows the yield point to be reported as the

yield strength if the load drop occurs before the specified offset is reached.

No such allowance

A Class Bl extensometer is required for all offset method determinations of yield strength.

Section 13.2.2 allows the use of a Class B2

extensometer for determining yield strength if the

offset is <0.2 %

B.3 E 6-66 VS. E 6-99'^

ASTM E 6, "Standard Terminology Relating to Methods of Mechanical Testing," defines the technical

terms used in the various mechanical testing standards. The definitions of elastic limit, elongation, gauge

length, Poisson's ratio, proportional limit, reduction of area, and tensile strength are word-for-word

identical in the two standards. The definitions of yield point and yield strength differ textually, but not in

spirit. Table B-3 summarizes the textual differences between the two versions.

B.4 A 36-66 VS. A 36-01

All chemistry requirements of Table 2 are identical. A 36-66 requires the material to pass a bend test defined as "The bend test specimens shall stand being bent cold through 1 80 deg without cracking on the outside of the bent portion, to an inside diameter which shall have a relation to the thickness of the specimens as prescribed in Table IV." The bend test is absent from A 36-01. A 36-66 requires that the

steel be made by "open-hearth, basic-oxygen, or electric-furnace" A 36-01 has no such requirements. The

elongation requirements differ between the two standards. A 36-66 has relaxed elongation requirements

for thicker plates that are missing from A 36-01 , and does not differentiate between plates and shapes for elongation requirements. Other than these minor differences, the standards are identical.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 55
Appendix B

Table B-3. Differences in the definitions of yield point and yield stress in ASTM E 6. E6-66 E 6-99'^

Yield Point

"[FL '] the first stress in a material, less than the maximum attainable stress, a which an increase in strain occurs without an increase in stress Note—It should be noted that only materials that exhibit the unique phenomenon of yielding have a

'yield point.'"

"YP [FL"-], n - a terni used, by E 8 and E 8M, for the property which is now referred to as upper yield

strength."

"Upper yield strength UYS, [FL"'], n -in a uniaxial test, the first stress maximum (stress at first zero slope)

associated with discontinuous yielding at or near the onset of plastic deformation."

Yield Strength

"[FL'"] The stress at which a material exhibits a specified limiting deviation from the proportionality

of stress to strain, the deviation is expressed in terms of strain." Notes on the offset and total extension under load methods follow.

"YS or S, [FL'"], n-the engineering stress at which, by

convention, it is considered that plastic elongation of the material has commenced. This stress may be specified

in terms of (o) a specified deviation from a linear

stress-strain relationship, (b) a specified total extension

attained, or (c) maximum or minimum engineering

stresses measured during discontinuous yielding."

Discussion of the offset and specified extension under

load methods follows, as well as discussion of upper and

lower yield strengths, differences between the results of

the two methods and of rate effects.

B.5 A 242-66 VS. A 242-01

The yield and tensile requirements are unchanged in the two standards, but the chemistry requirements

differ substantially. A 242-66 admits high and low carbon variants. A 242-01 admits only a low carbon,

low manganese type. During the WTC construction era, A 242 was revised to include the Type 1 variant

of A 242-01. Table B-4 compares the chemistry requirements between the two standards. Another

difference is that A 242-0 i prescribes the method for determining the atmospheric corrosion resistance,

while A 242-66 only states, "If the steel is specified for materially greater atmospheric corrosion

resistance than structural carbon steel with copper, the purchaser should so indicate and consult with the

manufacturer." The elongation requirements are relaxed for thicker plates and shapes in A 242-66. The

current standard also adds some required elongations when specimens with 2 in. gage length are tested. Finally, A 242-01 no longer inandates that steel pass a bend test. Requirements for bend testing are now

included as a non-mandatory appendix in A 6-02.

The A 242 steel that Laclede supplied for the floor trusses would have met the chemistry requirements of

A 242-66, but would not meet the chemistry requirements of A 242-01, because of its elevated carbon

content. In terms of its load-carrying capacity, these differences are irrelevant, however.

56 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Notes on ASTM Standards for Structural Steel

Table B-4. Differences in chemistry requirements

between A 242-6(3 and A 242- J1

.

Element A 242-66 A 242-66 (Typel)

C (max.) 0.22 0.15 0.15 Mn (max.) 1.25 1.4 1.00

S (max.) 0.05 0.05 0.05 P (max.) NR NR NR

Cu (min.) NR NR 0.20 Key: C. carbon; Cu. copper; Mn. manganese; NR, no requirement;

P. phosphorus; S. sulfur. Note: Compositions expressed in % mass fraction.

B.6 A441-66 VS. A572-01

ASTM A 441 was withdrawn in 1989. A 441-66 and A 572-01 are similar in several ways. Both are standards for vanadium-containing steels with mmimum yield points greater than those specified in A 36. To some degree it can be argued that A 572 replaced A 441. The carbon, manganese, and silicon levels in both standards are similar but not identical. However, in terms of chemistry, most steels that met

A 441-66 would probably meet A 572-01. A 572-01 admits a wider range of minimum yield points in much thicker sections as well, see Table B-5.

Table B-5. Differences between

A 441-66 and A572-(31. A 441-66

^ P (ksi)

Thickness

t(in.)

A 572-01

YP (ksi)

40 4 in. </<=8 in.

/ <= 6 in. 42

42 1.5 in.</<=4 in. /<=4 in. 50

t<=2 in. 55

46 3/4 in.<?<=1.5 in. K=1.25 m. 60

/<=1.25 in. 65

50 /<=3/4 in.

B.7 A 514-65 VS. A 514-OOA

A 514-65 differs from A 514-OOa at dozens of points. Table B-6 summarizes the substantial ones. Unlike standards such as A 36. which have simple, non-proprietary chemistry requirements, each variant

chemistry in A 514 represents a single mill's 100 ksi steel. For instance, Brockenbrough and Johnson

(1968) identify A 514 Grade F as USS Tl, A 514 Grade B as USS Tl Type A, and A 514 Grade H as USS Tl Type B.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 57
Appendix B

Table B-6. Differences in ASTM A 514-65 and A 514-OOa.

A 514-65 A 514-OOa

Sampling

requirements

One tension test from each of two plates from

each lot (Sec. 10.2) Brinell hardness from all plates not

tension-tested (Sec. 7.1)

One tension test from every plate in each lot (Sec. 8.1) Brinell hardness may be substituted for plates

3/8 in. and under, with tension test from at least two plates (Sec. 7.2) Test specimen

orientation No special requirement Plates over 24 in. wide must be tested m the transverse direction (8.1) Strength /<3/4in. 115ksi<r5< 135 ksi 3/4 m. < / < 2.5 m. 115 ksi <TS< 135 ksi 2.5in. </<4in. 105 ksi < < 135 ksi (Table 2)

?<3/4in. 110ksi<r5< 130ksi

3/4 m. <t < 2.5 m. 110 ksi < To < 130 ksi 2.5 in. </ < 6 in. 1 05 ksi < r5 < 1 30 ksi (Table 2) Elongation in 2 in. (%)

2.5 in.<t<4in.: 17%

special elongation reduction allowances for plates under 5/16 in. (Sec. 6.2)

2.5 in. </<6 in.: 16 %

No such allowance

r^hpmi<strv

(compositions

expressed in % mass

fraction)

Admits Types D, G

Type D 0. 1 3-0.2C 0.4-0.7Mn. 0.035P, 0.04S

0.2-0.35Si, 0.85-1.2Cr, 0.15-0.25Mo

0.04-0. ITi, 0.2-0.4CU, 0.0015-0.005 B

Type G 0.15-0.21C, 0.8-1. IMn, 0.035P,

0.04S. 0.5-0.9Si, 0.5-0.9Cr, 0.4-0.6Mo

0.05-0. 15Zr, 0.0025 Max B

Types D, G absent Admits new types J, K, M, P, Q, R, S, T.

Chemistry Most S allowables are 0.04 % Most S allowables are 0.035 %

B.8 YIELD POINT VS. YIELD STRENGTH

Both E 8 and A 370 distinguish between yield point and yield strength. For steels of interest to the

investigation, all standards for steels with yield strength under 80 ksi, whether contemporary or contemporaneous, specify yield point instead of yield strength. ASTM E 6-99*^" (Standard Terminology

Relating to Methods of Mechanical Testing) defines them as follows:

• yield point, YP [FL""], n - a term used, by E 8 and E 8M, for the property which is now

referred to as upper yield strength.

• upper yield strength, UYS, [FL'"], n -in a uniaxial test, the first stress maximum (stress at

first zero slope) associated with discontinuous yielding at or near the onset of plastic

deformation.

• yield strength, YS or Sy [FL-2], n -the engineering stress at which, by convention, it is considered that plastic elongation of the material has commenced. This stress may be

specified in terms of {a) a specified deviation from linear stress-strain relationship, {b) a specified total extension attained, or (c) maximum or minimum engineering stresses measured during discontinuous yielding.

The definitions of yield point and yield strength differ textually, but not semantically, between ASTM

E 6-99'- and E 6-66, and are contrasted in Sec. 0 and Table B-7.

58 NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation
Notes on ASTM Standards for Structural Steel

Table B-7. Methods for determining Yield Point and Yield Strength in ASTM A 370.

A 370-67 A 370-02

Yield Point

"Drop of the beam" method

Section 12(a)(1)

"Drop of the beam" method

Section 13.1.1

Position of the knee

Section 12(a)(2)

Position of the knee

Section 13.1.2

Total extension under load (at a suggested strain of

£ = 0.005)

Section 12(b)(2)

Total extension under load (at a suggested strain of

£ = 0.005)

Section 13.1.3 "Divider method" Section 12(b)( 1

)

Yield Strength

Offset method with no suggested value but with an example that uses s = 0.002

Section 13(b)

Offset method with no suggested value but with an example that uses £ = 0.002

Section 13.2.1

Extension under load with no required or suggested

strain value: "this approximate method be used only

when the product specification permits"

Section 13(a)

Extension under load with no suggested strain, but with

an example that uses of £ = 0.005

Section 13.2.2

In terms of mechanical properties, it matters little whether yield point or yield strength is specified.

Almost certainly the yield point of plain carbon steels (like A 440 and A 36) will exceed the yield

strength by only 1 ksi to 4 ksi. because they typically exhibit a yield drop after yielding. Of the relevant

standards, only A 514 specifies steel in terms of yield strength. Both contemporary and contemporaneous

version of A 36, A 242, A 441, and A 572 specify yield point rather than yield strength. The American

Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Manual ofSteel Construction (AISC 1973, p. 1-3) treats them

identically:

As used in the AISC Specification, "yield stress" denotes either the

specified minimum yield point (for those steels that have a yield point) or

specified minimum yield strength (for those steels that do not have a yield point).

A 370-02 permits three different methods for measuring yield point and two methods for yield strength,

summarized in Table B-2. The "drop of the beam" method applies to testing machines that prescribe the

loading rate, rather than the extension rate.

Interestingly, neither A 370-67 nor A 370-02 mandates a specific value of the total extension under load

determining either yield point or yield stress when using the total extension under load method. It does

suggest a value of 8 = 0.005, but does so in a non-mandatory note. Furthermore, A 370-67 does not

require the mill to report which method it used for measuring yield point. Neither A 6-65 nor A 370-67

has any requirements as to the contents of a mill report. A 6-02 does have a detailed section on Test

Reports, however.

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A, WTC Investigation 59
Appendix B

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60

NISTNCSTAR 1-3A. WTC Investigation