Computer Model Simulates Effects Of Explosives Blasts

If you want to study the possible effects of a terrorist bomb on an airliner, one obvious way would be to buy retired airliners, and actually blow them up. That's the traditional method, but the Transportation security Administration wanted to know -- in this day and age, can't we accurately simulate an explosion using computers instead?

USA Today reports that question has been answered. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM have created the first computer model that simulates the effects of a bomb going off on an airliner. The TSA says the tests could eventually lead to changes to the restricted-items list... potentially rendering obsolete the agency's current ban on significant quantities of liquids in carry-on luggage.

"We can make any number of potential changes based on the results," TSA spokesman Christopher White said. "It could affect the amount of any given item we allow on board. It could affect our prohibited-items list."

The TSA says it's also looking at doing separate blast tests on regional jets. Aviation-security consultant and former United Airlines security chief Glen Winn notes smaller RJs are "more vulnerable than a large airplane... A small explosion on a small aircraft is going to be nearer to the critical parts of the airplane."

TSA says it may modify airport bomb scanners so they can better protect the roughly 300,000 passengers who fly RJs each day.

In addition to the potential cost savings, virtual explosions may be more accurate that testing on actual retired airliners. One reason is that advancing technology often means retired planes aren't representative of the current fleet.

And, White notes, "We can do infinite numbers of variables without blowing up infinite numbers of planes."

Compared to trashing real planes, developing the software was cheap. The labs were paid $2 million by the TSA and the Science and Technology Directorate, another branch of the Department of Homeland Security.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.sandia.gov