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

SB1341-03-W-0783 (Area 5) Dr. Daniele Veneziano and Dr. 

Jozef Van Dyck

6/25/2003

OUTSIDE EXPERTS FOR BASELINE STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE, IMPACT ANALYSIS, 

STRUCTURAL RESPONSE TO FIRE, COLLAPSE, ETC.

Under solicitation number SB1341-03-Q-0322, firm fixed-price purchase orders have been awarded to 

experts in five technical areas for their experience and judgment at the most senior professional level to 

provide expert technical assistance as follows:

Area 5: Assessment of Most Probable Structural Collapse Sequences

One purchase order for Area 5 has been awarded to the team of Dr. Daniele Veneziano and Dr. Jozef 

Van Dyck as independent consultants to provide technical expertise and assistance for the formal 

probabilistic assessment approach that will be developed and implemented to support the determination 

of the most likely sequence of events leading to the structural collapse of WTC 1, 2, and 7. The analysis 

will integrate multiple disciplines effectively and discern which input and analysis parameters significantly 

influence the analysis methods used to simulate these events. Several methods shall be considered: 

Probabilistic and statistical methods, particularly event tree and Monte Carlo methods, Bayesian 

updating, stochastic modeling, and uncertainty quantification in complex systems. 

Application of probability and statistical methods to structural systems; structural reliability 

analysis; structural load modeling and analysis of combinations of loads; probabilistic risk 

assessment of engineered facilities. 

Dr. Veneziano and Dr. Van Dyck have worked as a team for over 18 years on a large number of projects 

worldwide, involving probabilistic modeling of structural loads, engineering risk and reliability assessment, 

statistical data analysis, and uncertainty propagation. These projects often involve the use of sensitivity 

analysis, Monte Carlo simulations, and event-tree uncertainty propagation and Bayesian updating. 

Dr. Veneziano has a doctorate in civil engineering and is an internationally recognized expert with 

numerous published papers in the fields of probabilistic modeling of structural loads, engineering risk and 

reliability assessment, statistical data analysis, and uncertainty propagation and Bayesian updating 

techniques. He has over 28 years of consulting experience in a broad range of fields, including analysis of 

seismic risk, hazard assessment, and Bayesian uncertainty updating, uncertainty quantification and 

decision in nuclear repositories for 69 sites in the eastern US, structural safety reliability of the Leaning 

Tower of Pisa, Italy based upon past field measurements, and a reliability analysis of the proposed 

Messina suspension bridge between Italy and Sicily for different failure modes. Dr. Veneziano holds a 

position of Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Dr. Van Dyck has a doctorate in civil engineering and is the Director of Probabilitas N.V., a Belgian 

company that specializes in engineering risk, probabilistic modeling, statistical analysis, and uncertainty 
2 http://www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/wtc/wtc_contracts.cfm

management. He is a part-time professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium, where he teaches 

probabilistic and statistical methods in engineering. He has over 18 years of experience and has 

published numerous papers in engineering risk, probabilistic modeling and statistical analysis, and 

uncertainty management.