Investigation findings and lessons learned in the west fertilizer explosion

Abstract

On 17 April 2013, an explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas. The explosion at West Fertilizer resulted from an intense fire in the seed and storage area of the facility that led to the detonation of approximately 30 tons of ammonium nitrate stored inside a wooden receiving bin. The explosion occurred while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire at the facility. Fifteen people were killed, more than 250 were injured, and numerous buildings were damaged or destroyed. This article presents the results of our investigation into the cause and origin of the explosion event, which included (1) early video footage which showed the room where the initial fire originates and (2) applying advanced blast techniques to determine the quantity of ammonium nitrate that likely detonated during the blast. These techniques included near-field blast effects (e.g. the resulting crater left by the blast) as well as the far-field blast damage resulting in the neighboring community.

Loss prevention learnings from Beirut and similar ammonium nitrate explosions

“…The blast efficiency is taken as EF = 0.42, which captures the theoretical maximum energy released by the detonation of AN. 41 This value has been adopted in several recent AN explosion studies 36,42,43 and is consistent with the Department of the Army Field Manual. 44 Among past events that were preceded by fires, see solid markers in Figure 3 Hence, a value of DF = 1 will be used to evaluate scenarios with a potential for fire engulfing a significant portion of the AN storage.…”

“…The blast efficiency is taken as EF = 0.42, which captures the theoretical maximum energy released by the detonation of AN 41 . This value has been adopted in several recent AN explosion studies 36,42,43 and is consistent with the Department of the Army Field Manual 44…”

“…Solid markers depict events with preceding fire; empty markers depict events without fire. Data from: Oppau 45 ; Pryor Creek 46 ; Toulouse 26,47–49 ; St. Romain en Jarez 50,51 ; West 14,42,43,52,53 ; Tianjin Port 54–57 ; Beirut 23,34–39 …”

Consequence modelling of a truck explosion

“…Process Hazard Analysis Software Tool -Phast developed by Det Norske Veritas -DNV is one of the world's most used software for modelling consequences of potential accidents, from leakage, to diffusion and explosion or toxicity. Computational simulations of fire and explosions and their corresponding results have to be validated with experimental results, but such experimental results are quite difficult to obtain [26][27][28][29]. For analysing the accident scenario presented in this paper, there was used the latest version of Phast, including the 3D explosion component, since the software has been validated with numerous fires and explosions experiments [30][31][32][33].…”

Structural response of simple partially-clad steel frames to long-duration blast loading

“…Other notable high energy explosive events include the 1947 Texas City [4] and 2015 Tianjin [5] port explosions with equivalent yields of 1,820 and 390 tonnes TNT respectively. In addition to the 2013 accident at a fertiliser storage facility in West, Texas [6] with an equivalent yield of 11.4 tonnes TNT. Prevalence of such accidents highlights a growing need to understand structural response to high-energy, long-duration blasts.…”