Futile Work
  • Home
  • News
    • Articles Of Interest
    • Numbers In The News
    • Life and Humanity
    • Quotes
    • Futile Updates
  • Curio
    • The Wonder of Lasers
    • Japan 2011 Psyop
    • Know Your Rights
    • Masonic Symbols and the LDS Temple
    • The Nun's Story
    • Special Edition
    • Explosion On The Launch Pad
  • Archive
    • Dave McGowan
    • Document Archive
    • Multi Media
    • Time For A Laugh
  • Blog

Articles of Interest

Skyscraper Caper

4/23/2013

 
Picture
Go to 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, look up, and you’ll see the Citigroup Center (the white building above), one of the tallest skyscrapers in the city. At 59 floors, the tower is home to well over a million square feet of office space, and its sloping top makes it a distinctive part of the New York City skyline. Construction on the building began in 1974 and completed in 1977 at the total cost of just under $200 million. The Citigroup Center, like most other buildings, is designed to last for years to come.

Especially once the powers that be surreptitiously fixed the massive engineering mistake which would have otherwise doomed the skyscraper.

The Citigroup Center is, architecturally, different than most buildings. While the typical building has structural support columns at each of the four corners, the Citigroup Center’s columns are in the center of each of the four sides, allowing the building to cantilever over a neighboring church. Doing so required a special type of bracket, which the building’s structural engineer, William LeMessurier, designed for this specific purpose. As designed, the building could sustain a direct, straight-on hit from hurricane-level winds.

Unfortunately, the construction company never tested to see how the building would fare against winds which hit the building at a 45-degree angle, which would cause the winds to hit two of the four outer calls simultaneously. After this concern was brought to LeMessurier’s attention — and well after the building was finished — he tested the theory in a wind tunnel and determined that these “quartering winds” would cause significantly more load than anticipated. But because the building, as drawn up, was padded with a significant level of additional safety measures, this theoretical problem had few if any practical ramifications. Until, that is, someone mentioned to LeMessurier about a cost savings the builders had found. Instead of welding his special brackets onto the structural columns, the builders bolted them on. Welded brackets are less likely to fall prey to heavy winds. When faced with the same hurricane-level force, bolts have the potential to shear. And no one tested to see if the bolts could handle hurricane-level quartering winds. In theory? They couldn't.

That June, LeMessurier determined that the type of winds capable of causing structural damage to the building hit Manhattan every 15 to 20 years. Having 59-story building in the middle of Manhattan which was at risk of such damage was, to say the least, a very big problem. Hurricane season was only a few months away. With a 5 to perhaps ten percent chance of a building-threatening storm coming that fall, fixing the problem was a priority. But admitting to it was an embarrassment, to say the least. Plus, telling the public would likely cause a panic by neighbors and office workers alike. So LeMesseurier and Citicorp (as it was then known) agreed to do the repairs after-hours, and not tell anyone.

It took three months, but the secret workmen successfully welded metal steel plates over the bolted-on brackets. No one found out about the fix-up job for nearly two decades; the New Yorker broke the story in 1995. And no one was hurt by the faulty building.

http://nowiknow.com/skyscraper-caper/

Editor's Note:
So metal worker's could perform critical infrastructure work in the dead of night, which wouldn't be found out for nearly two decades after the fact, but the idea of someone rigging the WTC Towers with controlled demolitions is ridiculous. Makes sense to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_controlled_demolition_conspiracy_theories

jump to top | return to articles home

Comments are closed.
    Articles Home

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2020
    June 2020
    November 2019
    October 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    May 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    July 2011
    May 2010
    April 2010
    May 2006
    December 2004
    October 2003
    June 2002
    September 2001
    February 2001
    February 1998

New Here?

Updates
About

Miscellany

​Contact
Disclaimer

Search

  • Home
  • News
    • Articles Of Interest
    • Numbers In The News
    • Life and Humanity
    • Quotes
    • Futile Updates
  • Curio
    • The Wonder of Lasers
    • Japan 2011 Psyop
    • Know Your Rights
    • Masonic Symbols and the LDS Temple
    • The Nun's Story
    • Special Edition
    • Explosion On The Launch Pad
  • Archive
    • Dave McGowan
    • Document Archive
    • Multi Media
    • Time For A Laugh
  • Blog