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Specimen Size and Strain Rate Effects on the Compressive Behavior of Concrete

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Abstract

Three high-performance concrete (HPC) materials with different specimen geometries were characterized using Kolsky compression bar techniques to study the strain rate and specimen size effects on their uniaxial compressive strength. A large-diameter Kolsky bar and recently established annular pulse shaping technique were used to achieve dynamic stress equilibrium and constant strain-rate deformation in the experiments. A complimentary effort was conducted using a 19-mm-diameter Kolsky compression bar to understand the strain rate and specimen size effects on failure strength and dynamic increase factor (DIF) for concrete. It was found that, for all three concrete materials investigated, the failure strength is highly dependent on the specimen geometry, however such a relationship is not apparent for the DIF. The DIF observed in this study shows significantly lower values compared to historical data, which may indicate the importance of well-controlled dynamic testing conditions on the accuracy and validity of experimental results for concrete materials.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Xu Nie gratefully acknowledges financial support from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) under agreement number FA8651-14-2-0007, and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) under contract number W912HZ-14-C-0021. The authors would also like to acknowledge the Center for Advanced Research and Technology at University of North Texas for access to the experimental facilities used for this study. Permission to publish was granted by the Directors of the Air Force Research Laboratory and ERDC Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin AFB, Valparaiso, FL, 32542, USA

    B. E. Martin

  2. U. S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS, 39180, USA

    W. F. Heard

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, 76205, USA

    C. M. Loeffler & X. Nie

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  1. B. E. Martin
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  2. W. F. Heard
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  3. C. M. Loeffler
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  4. X. Nie
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Correspondence to X. Nie.

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Martin, B.E., Heard, W.F., Loeffler, C.M. et al. Specimen Size and Strain Rate Effects on the Compressive Behavior of Concrete. Exp Mech 58, 357–368 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-017-0355-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-017-0355-2

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