Masonry infill walls under blast loading using confined underwater blast wave generators (WBWG)

Abstract

The vulnerability of the masonry envelop under blast loading is considered critical due to the risk of loss of lives. The dynamic behaviour of masonry infill walls subjected to dynamic out-of-plane loading was experimentally investigated in this work. Using confined underwater blast wave generators (WBWG), applying the extremely high rate conversion of the explosive detonation energy into the kinetic energy of a thick water confinement, allowed a surface area distribution avoiding also the generation of high velocity fragments and reducing atmospheric sound wave. In the present study water plastic containers, having in its centre a detonator inside a cylindrical explosive charge, were used. Studies were performed in both unreinforced and reinforced walls with 1.7 by 3.5 meters. Bed joint reinforcement and grid reinforcement were used to strengthen the infill walls. Besides the usage of pressure and displacement transducers, pictures with high-speed video cameras were recorded to enable processing of the deflections and identification of failure modes. Two different strengthening solutions were studied under blast loading and the results are presented and compared.