Ballistic and Blast Performance of Brick Masonry Walls

Abstract

Experimental and numerical study of the brick masonry walls to projectile impact and blast loading was performed. The three types of bricks were used: compact, perforated and Porotherm. Concrete and aerated concrete bricks were also used. First, the unreinforced brick masonry walls were tested by the impact of different projectiles according to STANAG 2280. Experiments showed that the walls were resistant to the projectile impact on level A3. In order to increase of the walls ballistic performance some reinforcement of the walls were suggested. This reinforcement which was realized using of some add-on plates made from basalt and ceramics leads to the increase in the ballistic performance of the brick walls from level A3 to level A4. In the next step brick unreinforced masonry walls were tested under blast loads generated by the explosion of 10 kg and 20 kg of TNT charges at the distance of 1.5 –5 m from the wall. The numerical simulation was used for the evaluation of the effect of material strength, boundary conditions, and thickness of the wall on the blast response of both reinforced and unreinforced brick masonry walls as well as on the masonry walls response to the projectile impact.