http://www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/wtc/wtc_contracts.cfm 1

Awarded Contracts for External Experts to Support the 

NIST World Trade Center (WTC) Disaster Investigation

Contract No. Awarded to Date Awarded

SB1341-04-Z-0001 Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP 

(GMS) 

10/27/2003

DEVELOPMENT OF WTC 7 STRUCTURAL MODELS AND COLLAPSE HYPOTHESES

Under solicitation number SB1341-03-R-0028, an indefinite deliverable, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) 

purchase order has been awarded to Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP (GMS) of New York City and its team 

composed of Dr. John Fisher of Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, and Computer Aided Engineering 

Associates Inc., of Woodbury, Connecticut.

GMS is a structural engineering firm that specializes in new construction and renovation projects of office 

buildings, residential towers, industrial facilities, hospitals, and historic structures. Office building design 

projects include 300 Madison Avenue, and the Brooklyn Courthouse, high rise buildings. GMS partners 

have worked on several steel high rise buildings in New York City of the same vintage as WTC 7, prior to 

the formation of GMS in 1991. GMS also conducts blast design and progressive collapse analysis of steel 

and concrete buildings, which included nonlinear structural analysis and investigation of possible collapse 

initiation. Dr. John Fisher is a steel connections expert who specializes in the fatigue and fracture 

resistance of bolted and welded steel connections. CAEA specializes in transient thermal analysis, and 

has conducted training in nonlinear analysis for ANSYS software.

The GMS team will conduct analyses of the WTC 7 building’s structural response to fire conditions. NIST 

will be conducting all fire analysis of the building in-house and supplying the time-temperature histories 

for the structural analysis to the GMS team. A rigorous review process of the work and products will be 

implemented. The review process includes independent reviews by third-party experts retained by NIST, 

Dr. Shankar Nair and Prof. Kaspar Willam, under solicitation number SB 1341-03-Q-0322, to augment inhouse NIST reviews. Specific tasks that the GMS team will perform include:

1. Develop and validate a structural finite element model of WTC Building 7. 

2. Conduct preliminary structural analyses, without fire effects, of sequences of member failures and load 

redistribution to identify credible failure sequences up to the point of collapse initiation. 

3. Develop models of critical subsystems for identified failure sequences and analyze their response to 

representative fire conditions.

4. Conduct parametric studies of subsystems to determine the effects of influential parameters and their 

uncertainty on analysis results.

5. Develop approaches to simplify structural analyses for final global modeling and analyses.

6. Modify the structural finite element model of the WTC 7 building to incorporate simplifications and to 

support nonlinear structural analysis for building regions affected by fire.

7. Analyze selected collapse initiation sequences for probable fire growth and spread sequences provided 

by NIST.

8. Conduct parametric studies of the global analyses to determine the effects of influential parameters 

and their uncertainty on analysis results.

All major technical decisions involving contractor work require NIST guidance, review, and approval. In 

addition, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are the responsibility of NIST, not the contractor.
2 http://www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/wtc/wtc_contracts.cfm

The GMS team combines engineers with experience in structural engineering of high rise steel office 

buildings, failure of structural steel connections, and thermal-structural analysis. Selected experience of 

key project personnel is summarized below:

All three founding Partners, Mr. Ramon Gilsanz, Mr. Philip Murray, and Mr. Gary Steficek, will be involved 

in this project. Mr. Gilsanz will act as the Principal for the project team.

Mr. Ramon Gilsanz has over 20 years of experience as a structural engineer for a wide range of 

projects, including design, renovation, and progressive collapse analysis of high rise steel office 

buildings. He is a registered professional engineer and a registered structural engineer. He has 

received awards for design projects from the New York Association of Consulting Engineers and 

the American Consulting Engineers Council. He is a past president and a member of the 

Structural Engineers Association of New York and a member of American Society of Civil 

Engineers. He has a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology. 

Dr. John Fisher, P.E., is a Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at Lehigh University. He has 

over 35 years of experience in the design, behavior, and failure of steel structural connections of 

riveted, bolted, and welded structures and of composite steel-concrete members. He has 

conducted over 100 research projects in these areas since 1961. He has published over 260 

reports and articles and is an author of several books on structural steel design and fatigue and 

fracture of steel connections. He has received numerous awards throughout his career in 

recognition of his contribution to structural engineering. He was elected to the National Academy 

of Engineering in 1986. In 1995 his work was recognized with the award of the ASCE John A. 

Roebling Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Bridge Engineering. In 2000 he received the John 

Fritz Medal for extraordinary vision in researching safety and performance of steel structures, and 

leadership in making discerning judgments for the public good. He has a Doctor of Philosophy 

degree in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University. 

Mr. Peter Barrett, P.E., is the Vice President of CAEA and a registered engineer. He has over 20 

years of experience in thermal-structural applications using the finite element method. He has 

performed numerous geometric and material nonlinear static and dynamic analyses to evaluate 

the strength and stability of aerospace, nuclear, dam, and offshore structures. He has taught over 

100 ANSYS training classes over the last 10 years about finite element theory, nonlinear 

analysis, and applied methods. He has a Master of Science degree in Structural Engineering 

Mechanics from the University of California Berkeley.