Resistance of Membrane Retrofit Masonry Walls to Lateral Pressure

Mitigation techniques are currently being sought to
ensure public safety in the event of intentional or
accidental explosions. Building material
fragmentation is a major cause of human injury
during such events. One of the most common methods
of construction in buildings is the use of masonry
walls however; these walls are extremely vulnerable
to blast pressure resulting in collapse,
fragmentation, and severe injury to occupants.
Blast tests and computational finite element models
have shown significant improvement in the behavior
of these walls when retrofitted with polymer or
metallic membranes. But the cost of blast tests and
high fidelity computational models make them
impractical for day-to-day design. The research
presented in this book developed resistance
functions for three different scenarios of membrane
retrofit unreinforced concrete masonry walls to
lateral pressure. These functions were further
coupled with single degree of freedom systems to
predict the wall response to blast loads. This book
provides a practical tool
for the design of membrane retrofit masonry walls
exposed to lateral pressures such as wind and blast.