A three-phase soil model is proposed to simulate stress wave propagation in soil mass to blast loading. The soil is modelled as a three-phase mass that includes the solid particles, water and air. It is considered as a structure that the solid particles form a skeleton and their voids are filled with water and air. The equation of state (EOS) of the soil is derived. The elastic–plastic theory is adopted to model the constitutive relation of the soil skeleton. The damage of the soil skeleton is also modelled. The Drucker–Prager strength model including the strain rate effect is used to describe the strength of the soil skeleton. The model is implemented into a hydrocode Autodyn. The recorded results obtained by explosion tests in soil are used to validate the proposed model. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.