FEA Study Shows Design May Have Played a Role in the World Trade Center Collapse

"The simulation model shows the plane slicing right through the outer walls of the as-built building like it was a thin soda can," [Professor Abolhassen] Astaneh-Asl explained to the spellbound crowd.

He described the issue in a nutshell: "Because of their unique design and the use of the so called "steel bearing wall" tube structural system, which as far as we know has never been used before or after its application in the WTC towers, the buildings essentially showed no resistance to the impact of a medium-sized plane flying into them at about 450miles per hour."