Protection of Historic Stone Masonry Walls Against Blast Loads

Abstract

Historic masonry buildings often have cultural and heritage significance becoming iconic buildings of a nation. As such, they may become targets for maliciously intended acts of terror in the form of bomb blasts. Vehicle bombs at close proximity of masonry buildings can cause significant damage to structural and non-structural building components. Blast performance of stone masonry buildings has not been researched sufficiently to develop blast retrofit technologies. An experimental research program is currently underway at the University of Ottawa to fill this research gap. Scaled models of stone masonry infill walls are tested under simulated blast loads. A new retrofit methodology is developed, consisting of tension braces that provide reactive forces to externally applied blast overpressures. The test walls consist of 2.0 m² geometry with a wall thickness of 100 mm. Blast shock waves are applied through a shock tube. The results indicate that the blast capacity of walls can be increased multiple times by the implementation of the retrofit strategy, protecting historic stone masonry walls.