Abstract

BRENES-ANDRE, José. Use of Balística software to analyze a case of the Turrialba volcano (Costa Rica). Rev. Geol. Amér. Central [online]. 2023, n.68, pp.1-16. ISSN 0256-7024.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/rgac.v68i0.52521.

BALLISTICA software, designed by the Author, was used to find a reasonable trajectory for the ballistic bombs and blocks ejected on October 29, 2014 from Turrialba volcano that hit the rangers quarters causing deadly damage, if it would have hit a person. The analysis included the proposal that the fragment was dragged by the ash and gas phase in the initial few hundred meters in its flight. The rest of the trajectory was analyzed as a ballistic path within a Newtonian regime acted with a constant drag coefficient of Cd. Both flight path stages were controlled by the crater asymmetry. It is proposed here an initial velocity and ejection angle of 125 ms-1 and 65° for the respectively, as well as 83,3 ms-1 and 74,6° for the corresponding final velocity and angle. A total flight time of a ballistically ejected clast of 20,3 s, calculated with Cd = 0,42 associated to a half-sphere. At the end, four general recommendations about building procedures were outlined to reduce possible future risk for both rangers and visitors in case of similar ballistic explosive eruption event.

Keywords : ballistic; drag; Newtonian regime; risk analysis; Turrialba volcano.

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