RAPID: Investigation of the Blast Loading for the Fertilizer Plant Explosion at West, Texas

2013年4月17日，德克萨斯州小镇韦斯特的一家化肥厂发生严重爆炸。爆炸摧毁了核电站周围人口稠密的社区。这次爆炸造成约150座建筑物受损或被毁。大多数建筑是独栋住宅；尽管两所学校、一栋两层公寓楼和一座养老院建筑都是遭受严重破坏的建筑的一部分。这一突如其来的工业爆炸事件为记录建筑物在爆炸荷载下的性能提供了机会。记录工作将从爆炸震中获得建筑物的破坏、结构、材料和破坏变化的现场技术数据。这些数据将包括现场、航空和卫星照片和观测。此外，将审查和记录当前的爆炸加载要求，以便与收集的数据进行比较。在清理受损区域和清除碎片之前，将收集现场数据。这些数据将被分析和组织，以供调查员稍后使用，以了解建筑物的爆炸荷载和反应。这位调查人员计划为达拉斯的一家科学博物馆准备一张海报，并在一个专业会议上发表演讲。

A severe explosion in a fertilizer plant occurred in the small town of West, Texas on April 17, 2013. The explosion devastated the populated neighborhood surrounding the plant. About 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed as a result of this explosion. Most of the buildings were single family residences; though two schools, a two-story apartment building, and a nursing home building were part of the buildings that sustained severe damage. This sudden occurrence of industrial explosion provides an opportunity to document performance of buildings to blast loading.The documentation effort will obtain on-site technical data of damage, construction, and materials of buildings and variation of damage from the epicenter of the blast. The data will include on-site, aerial and satellite photographs and observations. In addition, current blast loading requirements will be reviewed and recorded for comparison with collected data. The field data will be collected before the damaged area is cleaned and the debris is removed. These data will be analyzed and organized for later use by the investigator to understand blast loads and response of buildings. The investigator plans to prepare a poster for a science museum in Dallas and make presentation at a professional meeting.