NCJ Number
218686
Date Published
April 2004
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper presents a case study of an explosion in Durgapur, West Bengal, India in order to assist in better understanding how to assess the damage and determine the physical, chemical, and mathematical possibilities of an explosion, whether it originated from an improvised explosive device or a fuel-air explosion.
Abstract
Assessing the damage and determining the mathematical possibilities of the fuel-air mixture (aerosol) formation led to the following conclusions: (1) the explosion was a fuel-air explosion (aerosol explosion) of about 14-17kg TNT equivalent from the liquid petroleum gas leakage and was not due to an improvised explosive device; (2) the probable initiator of the explosion was the refrigerator; and (3) the volume of the leaked gases was close to the lower explosion limit and did not reach or exceed the upper explosion limit. In Durgapur, West Bengal, India, a powerful explosion occurred in a second floor apartment injuring five people. Investigators originally thought an improvised explosive device caused the explosion, however there was a strong liquid petroleum gas smell present. In order to understand and reconstruct the sequence of events, different physical, chemical, and mathematical possibilities for attaining the critical concentration of fuel and air (aerosol) mixture were considered to substantiate the case above as a fuel-air explosion. In other words, the evidence and forensic examinations excluded the possibility of an improvised explosive device. It was instead, a case of fuel-air explosion from liquid petroleum gas leakage in a congested and inadequately ventilated apartment. References