Granular matter: A special buffer for impact load

Abstract

As a typical energy dissipation system, granular matter can reduce the impact force effectively via inter-particle friction, viscous force and particle splash. To investigate the impact-absorbing capacity of granular matter, a spherical projectile dropping on a granular layer is studied by physical experiments and numerical simulations with the discrete element method (DEM). Both physical experiments and numerical simulations show that the granular layer reduces the impact load well. The impact load decreases with increasing granular layer thickness, but is not sensitive to the granular thickness when the thickness is larger than a critical thickness, HC. The critical thickness is a function of initial impact velocity. This study can be helpful for understanding the basic mechanical behaviors of granular matter under impact loads, and for the potential engineering applications of the impact absorption of granular matter. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.