CFS Seminar Series – Professor Bjorn Reif
By uceeanc, on 18 January 2014
Professor Reif from the Norwegian Defence Establishment (FFI) gave an exciting talk on the use of computer models in understanding the distribution of explosive residue after an explosion had occured. The fundamental physics governing the movement of particles in air was outlined and a description of the computational fluid dynamics methods used to model the phenomenon was provided. Models produced at the FFI of the Oslo bombings were presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the method and the usefulness of combining computational skills with experimental data. The importance of understanding the dispersal and deposition of particulate explosive residues following detonation would not only be useful for forensic scientists looking to efficiently process a post-explosion crime scene and sample for such traces, but would also benefit subsequent environmental clean up procedures – in particular where ‘dirty’ bombs may have be used.
– Nadia Abdul-Karim