ba booom

In reply to Stampie (FS) :

Tianjen 2015 was pretty enormous

bobzilla said:

In reply to STM317 :

Quick google maps calculation that grain silo shows about 800' in length. That crater is almost as large as that, so figure 600' across. 190 meters would be 623 feet. I'd say this was more than a 0.0041Mt explosion. The depth of that crate is unknown because ocean. 

Keep in mind that the explosive material was spread out in an area roughly the size of the crater.  

Apexcarver said:

You know, people often go on about regulations and them being headaches...  Looks like there should have been some tighter ones...

 

Going to to be a LOT of asking WTF THAT much of an explosive substance was doing in one place in that big of a city. (and rightfully so!)

 

A good example of when "it'll be fine" goes very wrong. 

What, it's not like it's still exploding.  So, hey, problem solved!

Apparently this is how the ammonium nitrate was being stored:

The more about this that comes out the more bizzare it gets.

It was 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate brought in by a Russian vessel.

The vessel was abandoned after a dispute trying to leave port in 2013/2014. The captain walked off to Cyprus, and basically left the crew to be held hostage for a year.

After the year, Lebanon let the crew go home and moved the ammonium nitrate to storage in the docks. Where it was ignored for 6 years.

All dockyard inspectors employed since 2014 are now under house arrest.

The explosion destroyed 85% of the country's grain and storage.

135 deaths so far and climbing.

The Guardian

You know, some people had to be behind that grain terminal, real close to ground zero, and walked out of there just fine.

And, I'm sure there are a bunch of dead people who were just checking out the fireworks show from their balcony a mile away.

What a boom. There is a video from a car, gotta be a mile away, crossing a bridge, and it blew all the windows and launched the side impact air bags.  The shock wave was spectacular.

I have concuded, and this is my professional opinion, that I don't wanna be anywhere near 27 hunnert tons of AN when it goes off. 

In reply to The0retical (Forum Supporter) :

Someone, or a lots of someones, are going to wrap that into one helluva conspiracy theory.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Because bureaucratic negligence is just... too simple.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I'm not so sure, those buildings on the opposite side of the silos look pretty much flattened. I don't think the human body could have endured the concussive force from that close, regardless of whether the silo sheltered them from excessive heat or projectiles? 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I'm not so sure, those buildings on the opposite side of the silos look pretty much flattened. I don't think the human body could have endured the concussive force from that close, regardless of whether the silo sheltered them from excessive heat or projectiles? 

Agreed. The shockwave and massive pressure change would be enough to f you up. 

I seem to remember Mythbusters did some experiments and it was surprising how little concussive force is needed to kill a person.  And they used much, much smaller explosions. 

There's a passage in the book "World War Z" describing the ability of large explosions causing a tramatic shock to hte central nervous system causing it to shut down. Now.... its a book of fiction but I have a feeling it's not far off.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

Mining data is useful for this as well

35-45PSI overpressure is 1% fatal, 55-65PSI overpressure is 99% fatal

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docket/archive/pdfs/NIOSH-125/125-ExplosionsandRefugeChambers.pdf

AP has a story that mentions that the Customs Chiefs (current and prior) have been asking for years for a judge to grant permission to move/sell the AN. They (the Customs dudes) cite exactly this as why they wanted to get it off their port. It is not currently clear what the response was to their letters. So it might be that they're scapegoating the inspectors to protect a politically appointed (or bought/paid for) judge. Or there is a lot more to the story and the inspectors dropped the ball. Time will, hopefully, tell.

Edit: Link to the referenced artice https://apnews.com/4475998de078a93bbe91b7ac9d43ada2

Also, $10-$15 billion in damage and 300k reported homeless.

Before and after:

bobzilla said:

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I'm not so sure, those buildings on the opposite side of the silos look pretty much flattened. I don't think the human body could have endured the concussive force from that close, regardless of whether the silo sheltered them from excessive heat or projectiles? 

Agreed. The shockwave and massive pressure change would be enough to f you up. 

There were people walked out of downtown Hiroshima...  There would be no shockwave behind the solo.  Pressure change, sure.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I'm a firm believer in Hanlon's Razor on this one.

I read something about a large fireworks storage area nearby the ammonium nitrate.  Just wow.  While we all hate regulations there are some very good reasons for them.

Streetwiseguy said:

bobzilla said:

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I'm not so sure, those buildings on the opposite side of the silos look pretty much flattened. I don't think the human body could have endured the concussive force from that close, regardless of whether the silo sheltered them from excessive heat or projectiles? 

Agreed. The shockwave and massive pressure change would be enough to f you up. 

There were people walked out of downtown Hiroshima...  There would be no shockwave behind the solo.  Pressure change, sure.

Airburst, which is the most efficient way to deploy a nuke.  The thermal effects are way more potent than the blast effects.

They aren't for blowing E36 M3 up, they're for burning the berkeley out of things.

Streetwiseguy said:

bobzilla said:

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I'm not so sure, those buildings on the opposite side of the silos look pretty much flattened. I don't think the human body could have endured the concussive force from that close, regardless of whether the silo sheltered them from excessive heat or projectiles? 

Agreed. The shockwave and massive pressure change would be enough to f you up. 

There were people walked out of downtown Hiroshima...  There would be no shockwave behind the solo.  Pressure change, sure.

There very much would be.  But it's very possible where the pressure wave going around the building will cancel itself out, and not harm a person.  And in some areas, the wave will change the strength.  The wave will still be there, though.

In reply to alfadriver (Forum Supporter) :

I'm not sure we share the same definition of shockwave.  If I'm standing behind a concrete silo full of grain, and the silo doesn't move, there will be no shockwave on me.  Air pressure will certainly fluctuate a great deal.  Where would the shockwave come from?

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Shockwaves ARE air pressure.  That's all they are.
.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Shockwaves ARE air pressure.  That's all they are.
.

Ok, but is the shockwave not the first, massive burst of air pressure?  I would imagine standing behind the bunker, the air pressure would actually drop as the initial blast pulled the air along with it.