NIST's Incredible Secret Pile-Driver Theory

Vast Discrepancies in Temperatures

The highest temperature estimated by NIST for its steel samples was 250 ºC (482 ºF) --

Evidence is consistent with of fire tests in uninsulated steel-framed parking garages, which showed maximum steel temperatures of 360 ºC (680 ºF).

NIST's sagging truss model has the truss heated to 700 ºC (1292 ºF).

NIST assumes steel temperatures more than 450 degrees Celsius (or 842 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than their own evidence indicates?

A floor section was modeled to investigate failure modes and sequences of failures under combined gravity and thermal loads. The floor section was heated to 700 ºC (with a linear thermal gradient through the slab thickness from 700 ºC to 300 ºC at the top surface of the slab) over a period of 30 min. Initially the thermal expansion of the floor pushed the columns outward, but with increased temperatures, the floor sagged and the columns were pulled inward.