Kerbal Space Program

For some time I was wondering why are explosions caused by reentry heat so devastating and particularly why I often lose parts that did not even show temperature gauge right before the explosion.

The attached craft uses cockpit with thermal tolerance 2700 K and attached intake with thermal tolerance 2400 K. Immediately before the explosion, internal temperatures of parts are around 350 K, the intake skin temperature is getting near its limit while the cockpit is around 2200 K - quite safe zone. Immediately after explosion of the intake, the cockpit skin temperature abruptly jumps to 2697 K (+500K within one frame) and next moment the cockpit explodes too.

It just doesn't feel right. Even if there was actually something to explode on that intake (technically there is not, no fuel present, it's just some metal plates), it would just not have time to deploy so much heat on neighbor parts. The exploding intake was whole 300k cooler than the temperature to which it heated the cockpit.

If this is caused by transfer of heat from destroyed parts, then perhaps the rate of the transfer should be reconsidered.

If this is caused by thermal effect of the explosion, then again violence and mechanics of explosions of different parts should be perhaps reconsidered. There's little to explode on many KSP parts, there's no reason for them to create such large fireballs if they're not fuel tanks. And even if there is reason to explode, realistic explosions have thermal (heat wave) and mechanical (shockwave) effects with mechanical effects usually causing the most damage. KSP implementation seems to be way too much concentrated on heat.