Further investigation on the dynamic compressive strength enhancement of concrete-like materials based on split Hopkinson pressure bar tests. Part I: Experiments

Effects of the inertia-induced radial confinement on the dynamic increase factor (DIF) of a mortar specimen are investigated in split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) tests. It is shown that axial strain acceleration is unavoidable in SHPB tests on brittle samples at high strain-rates although it can be reduced by the application of a wave shaper. By introducing proper measures of the strain-rate and axial strain acceleration, their correlations are established. In order to demonstrate the influence of inertia-induced confinement on the dynamic compressive strength of concrete-like materials, tubular mortar specimens are used to reduce the inertia-induced radial confinement in SHPB tests. It is shown that the DIF measured by SHPB tests on tubular specimens is lower than the DIF measured by SHPB tests on solid specimens. This paper offers experimental support for a previous publication [Li QM, Meng H. About the dynamic strength enhancement of concrete-like materials in a split Hopkinson pressure bar test. Int J Solids Struct 2003; 40:343–360.], which claimed that inertia-induced radial confinement makes a large contribution to the dynamic compressive strength enhancement of concrete-like materials when the strain-rate is greater than a critical transition strain-rate between 10¹ and 10² s⁻¹. It is concluded that DIF formulae for concrete-like materials measured by split Hopkinson pressure bar tests need to be corrected if they are going to be used as the unconfined uniaxial compressive strength in the design and numerical modelling of structures made from concrete-like materials to resist impact and blast loads.     

Analysis of modified split Hopkinson pressure bar dynamic fracture test using an inertia model

A split Hopkinson pressure bar (two-bar set-up) has been modified to perform dynamic three-point bend tests to measure dynamic fracture toughness, and to understand the influences of various experimental parameters, as well as inertial effects, on the dynamic material response. Modeling and analysis of the dynamic three-point bend test, as loaded by a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar, is conducted. The effects of support motion, crack propagation and plastic contact stiffness on total sample deflection are investigated. The effects of crack propagation and plastic contact stiffness on the contribution of support motion to the total sample deflection are also investigated theoretically and experimentally in this paper. Further, the effects of crack propagation and plastic contact stiffness on impactor and sample load are also addressed.     

The effect of radial inertia on brittle samples during the split Hopkinson pressure bar test

For a valid split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) or Kolsky compression bar experiment, the sample should be in dynamic stress equilibrium over most of the test duration. In this study, we investigate the effect of radial inertia on elastic samples during a valid SHPB test. We present closed-form equations for the three additional stress components induced by radial inertia for incompressible and compressible, linear elastic samples. These equations should assist in the early experimental designs. As the experiments proceed and more is learned about the sample response, numerical analysis can be used to obtain a more refined account of the sample response and dynamic material strength.     

Dynamic compression behavior of ultra-high performance cement based composites

In order to investigate the dynamic compression behavior of Ultra-high performance cement based composites (UHPCC) used in defense works, UHPCC with 200 MPa compressive strength is prepared by replacing a large quantity of cement by industrial waste residues such as silica fume, fly ash and slag; and substituting ground fine quartz sand (≤600 um in diameter) with natural sand (2.5 mm in diameter). Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) is performed on UHPCC with different fiber volume fraction to investigate the dynamic compression behavior. Results show that impact resistance of UHPCC is improved with an increase of fiber volume fraction. The dynamic compressive strength of UHPCC is also increased with an increase of strain rate. In addition, the finite element method (LS-DYNA) is employed to simulate the whole impact process of UHPCC. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the Johnson_Holmquist_Concrete material constitutive model can be used for the dynamic compression of concrete. The numerical values are in good agreement with experimental results.