system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are explosive overpressures so low?

I was reading about damage caused by various sizes of bombs and explosions, and it gave the damage estimate based the explosive overpressure. At only 10psi overpressure (25psia, I assume), it says reinforced concrete buildings will be severely damaged, but concrete typically has a strength of 3000-5000 psi. Why the disparity?
gpt
I can answer this from the blast wave side of things, but don't know much about concrete properties.  Blast waves feature a large instantaneous step in pressure at its front, plus a rapid non-instantaneous drop following that.  As a result, the pressure gradient (dp/dx) will be of very high magnitude.

I suspect those concrete strengths are calculated for static loads, which have much lower pressure gradients and are less damaging.