Impact response of plates under drop weight impact testinG

Abstract

Concrete structures are often subjected to long term static and short term dynamic loads. Due to a relatively low tensile strength and energy dissipating characteristics, the impact resistance of concrete is poor. Research work carried out so far towards the development of concrete that exhibits improved impact resistance than conventional concrete showed that the steel fibre reinforced concrete has a good potential as a viable structural material for such applications. The overall objective of the study is to investigate the dynamic behaviour of steel fibre reinforced concrete plates under impact loading with respect to displacement, velocity and acceleration. In the drop weight test, eighteen plate specimens were tested with three different thicknesses of 20,25 and 30mm and with three different steel fibre contents of 0.5,0.75 and 1%.The edges of the plates were fixed on all sides. Displacement versus time, velocity versus time and acceleration versus time behaviour for all the plates tested were studied. It was found that when the aspect ratio of fibres is 50 and 75 there is a marginal increase in energy absorption for change in fibre content from 0.5 to 0.75%. There is a steep increase in energy absorption for a steel fibre content of 1% when the aspect ratio of fibre is 100.