Small Scale Impact Tests at UH

These small scale pilot impact tests are meant to provide initial information regarding in-air impact. A 2 in x 2 x in steel tube, 1 to 4 meters long, impacts a load cell. The tube is instrumented with strain gages to track the stress wave in the tube.

The strain gages were placed at three sections on both sides of each of the projectiles. There were two end sections (5 cm from the end of the each tube) and one section right in the middle. The setup involved overall number of six strain sensors. To increase the data acquisition frequency, additional repetitions were run which involved only two strain sensors at the end section closest to the impact surface. The strain gages were numbered starting from the face of the impact tube. Facing the front tube surface, the numbering of strain gages started from the left side of the tube. Hence, first section included strain gages numbered as 1 and 2, mid section included 3 and 4, and very end section included strain sensors numbered 5 and 6 (for more details see Drawings tab above). For each of the trials the runs were repeated at least three times. For brevity of results the repetitions were run six times for each of the projectiles with exception of few repetitions in which recording failed due to some technical difficulties.