Explosion experiments of cyclotetramethylene tetranitramine (HMX) based layered thermobaric explosive (TBX) were carried out in an explosion chamber. The layered TBX was prepared by combination of both press and cast procedures, and the shock overpressure, quasi‐static pressure (QSP), heat flux, and oxygen concentration data were obtained. The results show that the corresponding parameters of TBX are significantly larger compared with TNT, which indicates obvious thermobaric effects of TBX. To correctly evaluate the performance of the layered TBX, the TNT equivalent model based on the overpressure and QSP of TBX was established, which could reflect the two stages of detonation and post combustion effects of the TBX.