TNT equivalent of the shock wave energy generated during the supersonic flight of an aircraft

To assess the impact on human health of the sonic boom that occurs when an aircraft is flying at supersonic speed, and, accordingly, to solve the problem of noise reduction by optimizing the aircraft design, it is proposed to evaluate the shock wave energy using the TNT equivalent of a cylindrical explosion. An example of calculating the shock wave energy during flights of F4 and F18 aircraft at different altitudes is considered. To calculate the evolution of an acoustic pulse during its propagation from the boundary of the shock wave transition to the acoustic one, the wave equation and its solution are used, taking into account the inhomogenei-ty of the atmosphere, nonlinear effects, absorption and expansion of the wave front, as well as the results of ground-based measurements of acoustic pulses. The results of calculations of the dependence of the explosion energy on the flight altitude, as well as on the type of aircraft are explained on the basis of the formula for the atmospheric resistance force.

Beirut explosion: TNT equivalence from the fireball evolution in the first 170 milliseconds

The evolution of the fireball resulting from the August 2020 Beirut explosion is traced using amateur videos taken during the first 400 ms after the detonation. Thirty-nine frames separated by 16.66–33.33 ms are extracted from six different videos located precisely on the map. Time evolution of the shock wave radius is traced by the fireball at consecutive time moments until about $$ t \approx 170$$ t ≈ 170 ms and a distance $$ d \approx 128$$ d ≈ 128 m. Pixel scales for the videos are calibrated by de-projecting the existing grain silos building, for which accurate as-built drawings are available, using the length, the width, and the height and by defining the line-of-sight incident angles. In the distance range $$ d \approx $$ d ≈ 60–128 m from the explosion center, the evolution of the fireball follows the Sedov–Taylor model with spherical geometry and an almost instantaneous energy release. This model is used to derive the energy available to drive the shock front at early times. Additionally, a drag model is fitted to the fireball evolution until its stopping at a time $$ t \approx 500$$ t ≈ 500 ms at a distance $$d \approx 145\pm 5$$ d ≈ 145 ± 5 m. Using the derived TNT equivalent yield, the scaled stopping distance reached by the fireball and the shock wave-fireball detachment epoch within which the fireball is used to measure the shock wave are in excellent agreement with other experimental data. A total TNT equivalence of $$ 200\pm 80\,\mathrm{t}$$ 200 ± 80 t at a distance $$ d \approx 130$$ d ≈ 130 m is found. Finally, the dimensions of the crater size taken from a hydrographic survey conducted 6 days after the explosion are scaled with the known correlation equations yielding a close range of results. A recent published article by Dewey (Shock Waves 31:95–99, 2021) shows that the Beirut explosion TNT equivalence is an increasing function of distance. The results of the current paper are quantitatively in excellent agreement with this finding. These results present an argument that the actual mass of ammonium nitrate that contributed to the detonation is much less than the quantity that was officially claimed available.

Infrasound detection and altitude estimation associated with the December 22, 2020 Yushu fireball

A large bolide was reported at 23:23:33 UTC on December 22, 2020, at a height of ~ 35.5 km at $$31.9^\circ \mathrm{N}$$ 31 . 9 ∘ N , $$96.2^\circ \mathrm{E}$$ 96 . 2 ∘ E in Yushu, Qinghai Province, China. It is the largest fireball observed in China on record with a TNT equivalent of 9.5 kilotons. Infrasound signals were detected by a four-element infrasound array deployed in Yunnan Province, China. The parameters of this event were obtained using the progressive multi-channel correlation method. The altitude of this event was estimated to be $$43.22\pm 15.51\mathrm{ km}$$ 43.22 ± 15.51 km using a ray tracing back-projection algorithm.

Numerical Simulation and Measurements of Reaction Load for an Impulsively Loaded Pressure Vessel

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) designs and utilizes impulsively loaded pressure vessels for the confinement of experimental configurations involving explosives. For physics experiments with hazardous materials, a two-barrier containment system is needed, where an impulsively (or, explosively) loaded pressure vessel is assembled as an inner confinement vessel, inside an outer containment vessel (subject to quasi-static load in the event of confinement vessel breach). Design of the inner and outer vessels and support structure must account for any directional loads imparted by the blast loading on the inner vessel. Typically there is a shock-attenuating assembly between the inner confinement and outer containment pressure barriers, which serves to mitigate any dynamic load transfer from inner to outer vessel. Depending on the shock-attenuating approach, numerical predictions of these reaction loads can come with high levels of uncertainty due to model sensitivities. Present work here focuses on the numerical predictions and measurements of the reaction loads due to detonating 30 g of TNT equivalent in the Inner Pressure Confinement Vessel (IPCV) for proton imaging of small-scale shock physics experiments at LANL. Direct reaction load measurements from IPCV testing is presented alongside numerical predictions. Using the experimental measurements from the firing site, we refine the tools and methodology utilized for reaction load predictions and explore the primary model sensitivities which contribute to uncertainties. The numerical tools, modeling methodology, and primary drivers of model uncertainty identified here will improve the capability to model detonation experiments and enable design load calculations of other impulsively loaded pressure vessels with higher accuracy.

Evaluation of the Chemical Explosions Impact using Infrasound and InSAR Analysis

<p>Chemical explosions generate shockwaves which can be recorded at far distant with infrasound sensors. Infrasound propagation and energy of the explosion are main factors which control the infrasonic wave arrivals. In this study, a China explosion which happened on 22 March 2019, Biuret explosion on 4 August 2020, and the explosion of MOMO-2 rocket failure during the launching process will be investigated. The infrasound data sets of these explosions are extracted from IMS infrasound stations and KUT infrasound sensors which are distributed all over Japan.</p><p>The explosions had different propagation conditions which can be simulated using ray tracing and parabolic equation numerical methods, furthermore the transmission losses can be estimated in order to determine the yield energy in TNT-equivalent of each explosion, moreover the severe surface damages were identified by using InSAR techniques which can be classified according to the interferometric coherency.</p><p>In conclusion, the integration between the infrasound technique and InSAR showed the safety zone which should be taken in account for any chemical factories or rocket launch sites.</p>

Detection and source parameterization of small-energy fireball events in Western Alps with ground-based infrasonic arrays

Summary We present infrasound signals generated by four fireball events occurred in Western Alps between 2016 and 2019 and that were recorded by small aperture arrays at source-to receiver distances < 300 km. Signals consist in a series of short-lived infrasonic arrivals that are closely spaced in time. Each arrival is identified as a cluster of detections with constant wave parameters (back-azimuth and apparent velocity), that change however from cluster to cluster. These arrivals are likely generated by multiple infrasonic sources (fragmentations or hypersonic flow) along the entry trajectory. We developed a method, based on 2D ray-tracing and on the independent optically determined time of the event, to locate the source position of the multiple arrivals from a single infrasonic array data and to reconstruct the 3D trajectory of a meteoroid in the Earth's atmosphere. The trajectories derived from infrasound array analysis are in excellent agreement with trajectories reconstructed from eyewitnesses reports for the four fireballs. Results suggest that the trajectory reconstruction is possible for meteoroid entries located up to ∼300 km from the array, with an accuracy that depends on the source-to-receiver distance and on the signal-to-noise level. We also estimate the energy of the four fireballs using three different empirical laws, based both on period and amplitude of recorded infrasonic signals, and discuss their applicability for the energy estimation of small energy fireball events ($\le 1{\rm{kt\,\,TNT\,\,equivalent}}$).

ANALYSIS OF MATHEMATICAL RELATIONS FOR CALCULATION OF EXPLOSION WAVE OVERPRESSURE

The explosion of an explosive system causes primary and secondary effects on people and objects near its site. The most devastating is the pressure effect of the explosion, especially the overpressure. Individual parameters of pressure wave (overpressure size, duration impulse) can be determined by mathematical or virtual modeling or can also be measured under real conditions. The authors focused on the parameters of the positive phase of the shock wave propagating from the source of the explosion towards the object. The article covers the description and analysis of selected mathematical relations, which are used to determine the magnitude of the explosion overpressure. The results are based on selected formulas. The source of the explosion referred in the study is an explosive system containing a reference explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT). TNT is a military explosive that is used as a reference explosive in technical standards dedicated to the certification of explosion-proof elements, and at the same time, a TNT equivalent is known to allow the mass of an explosive charge to be recalculated. The results obtained by mathematical modeling according to individual approaches have been compared and the possibilities of using computational models in the area of security management and education of security managers have been identified. The results of the study confirm that prediction of pressure wave parameters at different distances and weights can assist security managers in creating attack scenarios and designing a suitable object protection system.