Application of a split-Hopkinson tension bar in a mutual assessment of experimental tests and numerical predictions

This paper shows how experimental test results from a split-Hopkinson tension bar (SHTB) and numerical simulations of the test set-up can be used for mutual verification. Firstly, a SHTB where the tension stress wave is generated by pre-stretching a part of the incident bar is briefly presented. This SHTB is used to carry out tensile tests of four aluminium alloys at high rates of strain, while tests at low to medium strain rates were performed in a servo-hydraulic tensile test machine. Using the test results, the parameters of an anisotropic thermoelastic-thermoviscoplastic constitutive relation and a one-parameter fracture criterion are identified for the materials at hand. Subsequently, the material model is used in explicit finite element analyses of the SHTB tests, including the entire experimental set-up and the stress wave propagation during the test. The numerical predictions were found to represent the observed behaviour in the experimental tests fairly well.