As for floor assemblies, those who have been following the
NIST investigation, and various explanations, know that the current claim is that the floor assemblies used in the
WTC were never tested for fire resistance. But the May 2003
NIST report says that, in 1970,
UL actually tested a floor assembly that was "similar to the
WTC floor system". It is important to note that the results produced in 1970 were the same as those from the August 2004
UL floor tests –
only 3 inches of sagging after 120 minutes in the furnace.
In this 2003 progress report,
NIST goes on to say that they intended to perform fire resistance tests not only on the floor models, as part of the
WTC investigation, but also on "individual steel members". The latter results were never reported, and no reason was ever given. But this progress report, like
NIST's final report, focuses more on the floor assembly fire resistance, and conspicuously fails to mention the originally required fire resistance tests on steel assemblies or where these tests were performed.
UL's second claim
Statement number two above is clearly false for several reasons. First,
UL is known to be one of the few important organizations supporting codes and specifications because they "produce a Fire Resistance Index with hourly ratings for beams, columns, floors, roofs, walls and partitions tested in accordance with ASTM Standard E119." [5]
In fact, even today you can go to
UL's website and order fire-resistance testing for building components such as "floors, roofs, walls, beams and columns." [6]
Additionally, the
WTC report from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) said "the
UL Fire Resistance Directory …is the major reference used by architects and engineers to select designs that meet the building code requirements for fire resistance ratings." [7]
Not only that, a
New York Times article about the
WTC reported in April 8, 2002 that "a furnace procedure called ASTM E-119" is used to "determine if building materials will survive out-of-control blazes." The Times went on to report "The furnace tests, conducted at places like Underwriters Laboratories here, focus on the ability of separate building components — a steel column or a concrete roof support — to survive temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees."
This article was critical of the tests performed as they related to the
WTC, but certainly didn't deny that they were performed, and made it clear who it was that performed them by saying –"At the Underwriters Laboratory campus in this northern Chicago suburb, where workers carry out those blazing tests…". [8]
so please Oxy provide all references just like you did in that last, for all UL claims and compare them to the NIST releases. You could be onto something here.
