Multiscale modeling of accidental explosions and detonations

Accidental explosions are exceptionally dangerous and costly, both in lives and money. Regarding worldwide conflict with small arms and light weapons, the Small Arms Survey has recorded more than 297 accidental explosions in munitions depots across the world that have resulted in thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damage in the past decade alone.1 As the recent fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people in the town of West, Texas demonstrates, accidental explosions aren't limited to military operations. Transportation accidents also pose risks, as illustrated by the occasional train derailment/explosion in the nightly news, or the semi-truck explosion detailed in the following section. Unlike other industrial accident scenarios, explosions can easily affect the general public, a dramatic example being the Pacific Engineering and Production Company of Nevada (PEPCON) plant disaster in 1988, where windows were shattered, doors were blown off their hinges, and flying glass and debris caused injuries up to 10 miles away.