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

2013年4月17日，得克萨斯州韦斯特小镇一家化肥厂发生严重爆炸。爆炸摧毁了化肥厂周围的居民区。这次爆炸大约有 150 座建筑物受损或被毁。大多数建筑都是单户住宅；遭受严重损坏的建筑包括两所学校、一栋两层公寓楼和一栋疗养院大楼。这种突然发生的工业爆炸为记录建筑物的爆炸荷载性能提供了机会。记录工作将获得建筑物的损坏、结构和材料以及爆炸中心的损坏变化的现场技术数据。这些数据将包括现场、航空和卫星照片以及观察结果。此外，将审查和记录当前的爆炸载荷要求，以便与收集的数据进行比较。在清理受损区域并清除碎片之前，将收集现场数据。这些数据将被分析和组织，供调查人员稍后使用，以了解爆炸载荷和建筑物的响应。研究人员计划为达拉斯的一家科学博物馆准备一张海报，并在专业会议上进行演示。

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.