Explosion effects on buildings

Nowadays there are many software tools available which, in case of a gas release, allow to calculate the dispersion of the gases (and hence predict the size and shape of the cloud) and to calculate the overpressures as a function of distance if this gas cloud should explode. The next step is then to predict what the consequences of these overpressures will be: to what extent will buildings (and other items) be damaged or even fail at the expected overpressures? Usually for such effect predictions guidance is sought in the literature, where tables are presented giving damage levels of typical buildings (and other structures) as a function of overpressure. Often these tables do not indicate whether the values are intended for gas (or dust) explosions, or for high explosives (or even nuclear explosions). Nevertheless, these different types of explosions behave very differently and their effects are therefore also very different. In addition the information often is very general: does “building” refer to a simple farm house or a large office centre.