Masonry wall behaviour under explosive loading

Abstract

This study is based on the data from an experimental investigation of masonry wall behaviour under blast loading. It includes an overview of some crucial aspects dealing with the numerical modelling of brick wall failure under such loading. The masonry walls exposed to the actual and a computational blast wave action are examined. The brittle behaviour of two-phase masonry is described utilising a VUMAT user subroutine in Abaqus Explicit code. The presented description is novel and fully introduced by the authors. The brittle behaviour of masonry includes material damage and base on the implemented equivalent stress value. Moreover, the initial properties are introduced by an additional laboratory dynamic measurement both phases of the masonry. The numerical response of this obstacle is preliminarily verified during laboratory tests, including the strain rate effect, using a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. The explosive loading is presented by a rapid pressure wave which is propagated through the ambient air. This complex experiment is implemented numerically mixing newly developed material response inside the eulerian domain described by equations of the state for the air and explosive respectively.The actual experiments are performed using masonry walls for close-in explosions. Finally, the numerical studies are compared with the experiments, resulting in pressure-impulse curves and masobnry failure.