Most commonly used barricade design methods are based on taking an explosion scenario and treating it as a "TNT equivalent." A widely used approach in the chemical industry is documented in TM5-1300. Although this may be a reasonable approach for explosives in cubical barricades, it may not always relate well to the reality of many chemical facilities. This paper discusses some of the limitations of the TM5-1300 method, the need for a good definition of the hazardous event(s), and the use of computational fluid dynamics to define blast loads for barricade design. (C) 2005 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.