MODELING THE EFFECTS OF MOSQUE EXPLOSION ON PRAYERS

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Mosques are temples for Muslims in which five prayers are held a day. The continuous escalation of terrorist threats in general and on mosques, in particular, necessitates the importance of protecting people and infrastructure from the burdens of malicious deliberate bombings. The consequences of the blast overburdens are catastrophic, including injuries, deaths, material and economic losses, and social upheaval. The current research employed numerical simulation to investigate the influence of an intentionally induced explosion in a confined, densely populated space on expected human casualties. The case study is a typical mosque building with an area of 600 square meters. Its maximum capacity is 720 prayers (Muslim worshipers), distributed in 12 rows, one behind the other. A detonation occurred as a result of a 1.15 kg TNT bomb exploding in the first row behind the Imam (leader of prayers). The time history of overpressure and speed was monitored at six different points. The four types of blast injuries, primary, tertiary, secondary, and quaternary, have been evaluated. The primary targets, the imam and prayers near the center of the explosion, are more likely to die from the tertiary blast injury. Prayers close to reflective walls, especially near the corners of the mosque, are at risk of death due to the primary blast injury. High winds have been found to cause more severe tertiary injuries than primary injuries resulting from blast overpressure. The information presented in this paper is useful for assessing post-blast damage and for estimating potential blast hazards from explosions. Appropriate design and provision of emergency exits can reduce the rates of physical injury and death resulting from explosions.