Performance of Masonry Walls Strengthened with RC Wall Jacket Subjected to Simulated Blast Loads

Abstract

Mitigation of the blast risk associated with terrorist attacks and accidental explosions threatening critical infrastructure has become a topic of great interest in the civil engineering community, all over the world. One method of mitigating blast risk is to retrofit vulnerable structures to resist the impulsive effects of blast loading. Masonry is one of the most commonly used materials particular in heritage buildings. An effective way to enhance the ability of unreinforced masonry walls to withstand blast loads and consequently to limit the amount of wall damage is strengthening it with reinforced concrete wall. In this research, the assembly of masonry wall with RC wall jacket from one side is simulated using nonlinear finite element method and ANSYS WORKBENCH V14.5 program to study its behavior under blast loading. A parametric study is performed where the influence of variation of some design parameters on the wall performance under blast effect is studied. The design parameters include masonry wall and RC wall thickness, interface between the two wall layers, stand-off distance, boundary condition, and reinforced concrete compressive strength. The performance of the strengthened walls is evaluated in terms of wall damage, maximum lateral deflection, and end rotation at the support.