Publications
Numerical simulations of wave propagation in long bars with application to Kolsky bar testing
Material testing using the Kolsky bar, or split Hopkinson bar, technique has proven instrumental to conduct measurements of material behavior at strain rates in the order of 103 s-1. Test design and data reduction, however, remain empirical endeavors based on the experimentalist's experience. Issues such as wave propagation across discontinuities, the effect of the deformation of the bar surfaces in contact with the specimen, the effect of geometric features in tensile specimens (dog-bone shape), wave dispersion in the bars and other particulars are generally treated using simplified models. The work presented here was conducted in Q3 and Q4 of FY14. The objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of numerical simulations of Kolsky bar tests, which was done successfully.