Titanic - still on the ocean floor, and as anyone can see for themselves, the hull is badly buckled.
However, if we go by
the reasoning you applied to WTC 7, you would require the ice burg that sunk the ship.
If we apply your standard of proof you would have to name one ship that has ever been sunk by an iceburg.
Columbia - from a link on wikipedia: "Incidents of debris strikes from ice and foam causing damage during take-off were already well known, and had actually damaged orbiters, most noticeably during STS-45, STS-27, and STS-87.[21]"
Of course you are unable to apply the same method of understanding to howthermal expansion, and thermal weakening
are applied concerns in engineering and architectural works. Despite being shown a
demonstration of what thermal expansion can do in extreme cases, you dismiss any kind of failure influenced by thermal expansion as impossible based solely on the idea that no building has ever suffered a catastrophic failure from it before.
You ignore that the length of spanning members magnifies the effect of it, you also fail to observe that connecting components in structures
aren't universally designed to handle every variety of loading conditions on the planet.
If we apply the same standard you apply to WTC 7, despite the known fears, and cases of damage foam has inflicted on a shuttle, the fact that such impacts had never before created the conditions for break up upon re-entry should make such an event impossible.
These analogies all fail. Find me the collapse of a building after thermal expansion caused column failure, and single column failure caused global collapse.
Good luck on that.
Share your doubts when you get rid of that nasty predisposition you hold that
lack of precedent = impossibility (appeal to common practice, or appeal to tradition, whatever you prefer to go by). I find your position rather hypocritical, given that for the space shuttle analogy:
- you appear to look at precedents in which foam break off has occurred but up until the Columbia incident had never fatally damaged the shuttle...
Why are you unable to apply the same form of analysis of the buildings?