Response of 1/4-Scale Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU) Walls to Blast

The exterior walls of conventional structures are often constructed using concrete masonry units (CMUs), commonly called concrete blocks. A series of experiments was conducted at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center to determine the response of a one-way 14-scale CMU wall to the detonation of an explosive charge. Finite-element analyses were developed to predict the results of these experiments. Each CMU was modeled with eight-node continuum elements. Adjacent CMUs were tied together using a slide surface that models a rigid connection until a failure criterion is met. Based on the analyses, a charge standoff was selected to induce a near-failure response. Five blast-load experiments were conducted. Both pre- and posttest analyses compare reasonably well with experimental results.