9/11 attack simulation finds impact stripped fireproofing

A computer simulation of the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks supports a federal agency’s findings that the initial impact from the hijacked aeroplanes stripped away crucial fireproofing material and that the weakened towers collapsed under their own weight.

The two-year Purdue University study, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, was the first to use 3-D animation to provide visual context to the attacks, said Christoph Hoffmann, a professor of computer science and one of the lead researchers on the project.