Implications of WTC Attack on Concrete Research

The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have changed the world as we knew it. Although there is clearly an immediate need for reconstruction of Lower Manhattan, it is too early to predict what all of the implications on the construction industry nationwide will be. Yet, the very real terrorist threats we have to learn to live with will have repercussions on the types of future construction as well as the materials used. And as is typically the case when design specifications undergo major changes, the main challenge to society will be to decide how to deal with existing buildings and structures. In other words, the design and construction of new facilities poses generally fewer problems than the retrofit of existing ones. This situation will present the concrete research community with new challenges, which are the topic of this article.