Vulnerability of industrial facilities to attacks with improvised explosive devices aimed at triggering domino scenarios

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Abstract Process- and chemical plants may constitute a critical target for a terrorist attack. In the present study, the analysis of industrial accidents induced by intentional acts of interference is carried out focusing on accident chains triggered by attacks with home-made (improvised) explosives. The effects of blast waves caused by improvised explosive devices are compared with those expected from a net equivalent charge of TNT by using a specific methodology for the assessment of stand-off distances. It is demonstrated that a home-made explosive device has a TNT efficiency comprised between 0.2 and 0.5. The model was applied to a case study, demonstrating the potentiality of improvised explosives in causing accident escalation sequences and severe effects on population and assets. The analysis of the case-study also allowed obtaining suggestions for an adequate security management.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Vulnerability of industrial facilities to attacks with improvised explosive devices aimed at triggering domino scenarios journaltitle: Reliability Engineering & System Safety articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2015.03.004 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.status: publishe