Response of Two-Way Reinforced Masonry Infill Walls under Blast Loading

Abstract

<p>The increased public safety concerns to the consequences of deliberate and accidental explosions have led to the development of the Canadian (CSA S850- 12) and American (ASCE 59-11) blast standards. There is an urgent need to investigate and quantify the response of structural components under such extreme loading conditions. This is especially important for masonry components, where research has been limited due to the misconception that masonry (both reinforced and unreinforced) is an inadequate material for blast hardening applications. The standards allow the use of experimental testing or dynamic analysis in order to determine peak responses and evaluate them in terms of the code prescribed performance limits and accompanying levels of damage. The current study investigates the response of non-integral and non-participating infill walls designed to undergo two-way out-of-plane response and detailed to fail in flexure under static loading conditions. Through experimental blast testing and dynamic model validation of reduced-scale walls under a range of design-basis threat (DBT) levels, this study shows that reinforced masonry is a viable alternative for blast protection. However, the current flexural-based code requirements, thought to be conservative, may be inadequate at loads of higher impulse where shear damage is prevalent. This study also shows the influence that changing the boundary configuration and level of reinforcement has on the peak response, where the performance limits of the current codes makes no provisions for these parameters.</p>