2021/01/29 by J. S. Díaz · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · Environmental Science · #Earthquake Detection and Analysis #Structural Response to Dynamic Loads #Wind and Air Flow Studies
paper · doi:10.1088/1361-6404/abe131
openalex publication_date 2021/01/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract Images of an explosion can be used to study some of its physical properties. After reviewing the key aspects of the method originally developed to study the first nuclear detonation and analyzing the Trinity blast data, the method is applied to the Beirut explosion of August 2020 by using images from videos posted online. The applicability of the method is discussed and the process of selection, extraction, and analysis of the data is presented. The estimate for the energy yield of the Beirut explosion is found to be <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>.</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> TJ or <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> <mml:mo>.</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>6</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>+</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.3</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> kt of TNT equivalent. The result is consistent with others recently appeared in the literature using different methods. Notice that this article includes content that some readers may find distressing.