Well back to the original thread topic, the NIST Petition Demands Corrections.
It's late and I won't be able to address this as well as I should but no matter, I expect what I write will be largely ignored anyway.
First of all, the NIST petition is quite dry reading, at least for me it is. I sympathize with anyone who can't be bothered to wade through it.
The basic argument for NIST to listen to the petition is that; " inaccurate information and/or incorrect analysis by NIST would lead to improper building codes, standards and practices. These improper building standards could, in turn, lead to needless deaths if such standards are too lenient, or unnecessary expenses if the standards are too strict."
The petition argues that NIST has made serious errors that have resulted in erroneous analysis, and consequently, findings that are not acceptable for developing safe building codes. The NCST Act requires the NIST to “recommend, as necessary, specific improvements to building standards, codes and practices,” and recommend “actions needed to improve the structural safety of buildings, and improve evacuation and emergency response procedures.”
In a nutshell, the petition challenges the credibility of the NIST computer simulation conclusions due to contradictions in how they were handled.
NIST found that the less severe case models would not result in the collapse of either tower and therefore excluded them. This exclusion would have been logically valid if the observable evidence (video and photos of the exit wound was in agreement). They are not.
For WTC 1, the WTC Report states: “No portion of the landing gear was observed to exit the tower in the simulations, but rather was stopped inside, or just outside, of the core.” (NCSTAR 1-2B, p.345) This statement stands in stark contrast to the WTC Report’s admission that landing gear was observed exiting the south side of WTC 1 at about 105 mph. (NCSTAR 1-2B, p.344) Therefore, if none of the simulations showed landing gear exiting WTC1, the justification for excluding the less severe case (ie. that the first “key observable” was not present) is clearly false with regards to WTC 1.
For WTC 2, the WTC Report states:
“No landing gear debris exited the building in either the base case or the less severe simulations.” (NCSTAR 1-2B, p.353)
“In all three simulations...it was estimated that the building contents would likely stop the engine fragments prior to impacting the northeast corner of the exterior wall.” (NCSTAR 1-2B, p.353)
“None of the three WTC 2 global impact simulations resulted in a large engine fragment exiting the tower.” (NCSTAR 1-2B, p.353)
Because a landing gear and an entire engine did, in fact, exit WTC 2 in real life, there was absolutely no basis for selecting the base and more severe cases while eliminating the less severe cases based on the first “key observable.” The model in effect failed to create what actually happened in all 3 scenarios.
Effectively, all 3 scenarios, less severe, base and severe result in simulations that fit the observed results to the opposite wall, regarding exit damage. NIST should have accepted all 3 scenarios or discarded all 3 scenarios. Only the severe case scenario resulted in a collapse initiation, so NIST went with that.
NIST's second “key observable” that the less severe case did not match was that “the towers would not have collapsed had the less severe damage results been used.” This justification for excluding the less severe case is invalid because it is based on false logic. The main goal of NIST’s investigation and analysis was to determine the cause of the collapse of the Twin Towers. NIST is not logically or scientifically permitted to
assume that the cause of the collapses was airplane damage plus fire and only choose computer models to fit that assumption.
If the Towers did not collapse solely due to impact damage plus the resulting fires in NIST’s computer simulations, then the impact of the airplanes and the resulting fires were not the sole cause of the buildings’ collapses. It is not scientific to selectively choose only those computer simulations that result in a preordained conclusion. To do so is to invite the accusation of political expediency.
NIST’s bias in this regard is especially apparent in light of the fact that the WTC Report admits “The magnitude and mode of impact damage on the exterior wall were still in good agreement with the observed damage for this less severe impact scenario.”
(NCSTAR 1-2B, p.276) (describing WTC 1)
And, “The mode and magnitude of the calculated and observed impact damage on the exterior wall are still in good agreement in this less severe impact analysis.” (NCSTAR 1-2B, p.312) (describing WTC 2).
Thus, by using flawed reasoning and false justifications for rejecting the less severe cases, NIST violated the NIST IQS and OMB Guidelines when it excluded the less severe damage case from its fire dynamics, thermal, and structural computer simulations. In fact, NIST’s exclusion of the less severe damage cases was, at a bare minimum, arbitrary and capricious, and at worst appears to have been done deliberately in order to fit a preordained conclusion.
Under the NIST IQS, “objective” information is information that is “accurate, reliable, and unbiased.” Because NIST has not provided any scientifically sound justification for excluding the less severe damage case from its computer simulations, any and all information that relies solely on the base case and/or the severe case is not “objective” because it is not accurate, reliable or unbiased. In fact, NIST seems to be heavily biased towards finding that aircraft impact plus the resulting fires were the sole
cause the WTC Towers’ collapse because NIST adopts a demonstrably false justification for excluding a damage simulation in which “the towers would not have collapsed.
I have to stop here but the petition is only partially concluded at this point.
The validity of their argument is good and the lack of scientific objectivity on the part of NIST is certainly apparent.
MM