Numerical quantification of factors influencing high-speed impact tests of concrete material

Abstract

It is commonly agreed that a few factors associated with stress wave propagation will affect the obtained dynamic properties of concrete material from impact tests. Owing to the nature of dynamic loadings, especially those with high loading rates, it is very unlikely to neither completely eliminate these influences in physical testing nor quantify these influences from the laboratory testing data. This chapter presents progressive numerical studies that devote to quantifying the influences of various factors in impact tests on dynamic concrete material properties at high strain rates, in particular the lateral inertia and end friction confinement effect. Both the lateral inertia confinement and end friction are found to contribute to the Dynamic Increase Factor (DIF), and the contribution is strain rate and specimen size dependent. A method to remove these influences from the test data is proposed. Using mesoscale model, the influence of granite aggregates on concrete compressive strength at high strain rates is also examined.