Beirut explosion: Animated video shows how massive ammonium nitrate blast unfolded
Modelling shows how grain silo shielded area behind blast
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A grain silo at Beirut port partly shielded the area behind it from the devastating explosion in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, a computer-generated analysis video has shown.
The computational fluid dynamics blast study of the 2,750-tonne ammonium nitrate explosion shows the blast wave loading around the harbour asymmetrically because of the grain storage unit.
The video, produced by Will Wholey, Ian Bruce and Julia Abboud from engineering firm Arup and Christopher Stirling, the developer of explosive simulation program Viper::Blast, shows the explosion emanating east and south of the epicentre.
The footage demonstrates how the surrounding terrain was obliterated as the wave expands outwards.
Mr Wholey, a senior resilience, security and risk consultant at Arup, said it is tragic that the blast occurred at all because it was preventable.
He told The Independent: “Our video is not just an aerial of circles on a plan, you can see the buildings and those buildings represent people and their lives and their apartments.
“There’s all sorts of technical things you can talk about but the most important part of this whole story is the people who are affected.”
The explosion hit Beirut’s port district with the force of a magnitude 3.3 earthquake, killing at least 154 people and injuring about 5,000 others.
Mr Wholey said he and his team plan to look at the explosion from several angles and hope it will raise awareness and lead to better regulation and storage of ammonium nitrate.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments