Buncefield: A possible alternative multi-stage route to localised overpressure generation

The paper presents an independent assessment of evidence in the public domain pertaining to the Buncefield fuel depot explosion event in December 2005. Based on this analysis, together with other relevant scientific observations, an alternative mechanism is proposed that could potentially account for the localised overpressure development indicated by forensic evidence, e.g. in Northgate car park, and whose origin cannot be explained by mechanisms contained within the existing lexicon of explosion development scenarios. The basis of the alternative mechanism is the interaction of a shock or blast wave from an initial event with a second separate explosion combustion front. The basic science of such shock-combustion interactions are introduced, as are the sequence of events, consistent with known facts, that could have led to a multi-stage explosion development event at Buncefield.