* Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: Peyman51471366@gmail.com (P. Beiranvand) © 2018 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi: 10.5267/j.esm.2018.6.004 Engineering Solid Mechanics (2018) 353-360 Contents lists available at GrowingScience Engineering Solid Mechanics homepage: www.GrowingScience.com/esm The behavior of confined masonry walls against outside contact blast loading Fatemeh Rahimi a , Arash Bayat a , Saeid Baranizadeh b and Peyman Beiranvand a* a Phd Candidate, Department of Civil Engineering, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran b Graduate student, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Transportation, University of Isfahan, Iran A R T I C L EI N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received 10 January, 2018 Accepted 29 May 2018 Available online 1 June 2018 Study of behavior of building structures under blast loads is an important issue for design of high reliable structures made of concrete material. Hence, in previous studies the enclosed wall under blast loads, open-air explosion has been investigated through experiments. In this study, the experimental results reported in the literature for dynamic performance of a masonry wall subjected to high strain dynamic loads (i.e. contact blast and air burst test) are simulated numerically using finite element method (FEM) by utilizing soft particle hydrodynamics (SPH). Comparison of simulated numerical results with the experimental data demonstrates the ability and accuracy of FEM analyses in predicting the response of confined masonry walls subjected to dynamic loads. © 2018 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Blast loading Masonry wall Contact Damage Numerical analyses 1. Introduction In recent decades, the increase of terrorism threats has led to more attention for structural dynamic response under explosion loading conditions. The structure response under explosion loads is a very complex problem that includes non-linear geometry and substance, time dependent structural deformation and loading rate dependent material properties. Traditional methods are involved with the single degree of freedom (SDOF) system analysis while this method is the preferable method for analysis and design of structures. However, SDOF method based on the simplified assumptions may not be adequate for reliable modeling of a structure with complicated geometry under complex loading conditions. Experimental investigation of this topic can provide intuitive observations and useful information about the explosion caused by the deformation and structural damage of the structure. A number of researchers have studied the dynamic behavior of building materials under explosive loads (Abou-Zeid et al., 2010; Alsayed et al., 2016; Barnett et al., 2010; Beiranvand et al., 2017). Schenker et al. (2005) performed the fracture tests on a full scale confined masonry wall that is either protected or unprotected. Time dependent measurements from the confined masonry wall response with high support adhesion coefficients to the explosion waves were registered successfully and the information obtained for verification and validation of the computer code were used. Urgessa and Maji (2009) performed an explosion test in full scale in a structure constructed by fiber reinforced polymers (FRP)