Blast response of clay brick masonry unit walls unreinforced and reinforced with polyurea elastomer

Abstract Clay brick masonry unit (CBMU) walls are widely used in building structures, and its damage and protection under explosion loads have been a matter of concern in the field of engineering protection. In this paper, a series of full-scale experiments of the response characteristics of 24 cm CMBU walls unreinforced and reinforced with polyurea elastomer subjected to blast loading were carried out. Through setting 5.0 kg TNT charges at different stand-off distances, the damage characteristics of masonry walls at different scaled distances were obtained. The reinforcement effect of different polyurea coating thicknesses and methods on the blast resistance performance of masonry walls under single and repeated loads were also explored. Five failure grades were summarized according to the dynamic response features of masonry walls. Based on the stress wave propagation pattern in multi-media composite structures, the internal stress distribution of masonry walls were analyzed, and the division basis of the masonry walls’ failure grades was then quantified. Combined with Scanning Electron Microscope(SEM) images, the deformation characteristics of soft and hard segments of polyurea and effects of detonation products on microstructures were revealed respectively, which provides an important reference for the design and application of polyurea in the blast resistance of clay brick masonry walls.