A novel experimental method for studying rock collision

• An innovative experimental method for rock collision is proposed. • The novel experimental method is based on the theory of stress waves. • The method is proved to be successful by collision tests using two different rocks. • Rock fragmentation and energy components can be studied by the method. This paper introduces a new experimental method for studying rock collision by making full use of the beauty of stress wave theory. In this method, a newly developed energy transmission component was placed between the gas gun and the transmitted bar of a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The forementioned component consists of an incident bar which moves frictionlessly within a specified distance, a circular steel plate welded to the incident bar, and a support base which is bolted to the SHPB bed. A rock specimen is attached to the farther end of the incident bar. When the striker bar, propelled by the gas gun impacts the incident bar, a compressive stress wave is transmitted from the incident bar to the rock specimen. When the compressive wave arrives at the free end of the rock specimen, it is reflected into a tensile wave. Then when the pure stress becomes tensile and it is over the tensile strength of the glue at the interface between the rock specimen and the incident bar, the rock specimen is ejected, and then the ejected specimen will collide with the transmitted bar. During specimen flight, the velocity of the rock specimen can be measured by a laser instrument, while the remained energy transferred to the transmitted bar is measured by strain gauges attached to it. The process of rock specimen flight before collision and fragment flight after collision can be photographed using a high-speed camera. This experimental method can be used to not only study a collision between a moving rock and another object, but also imitate a drop weight test. By using this new method, seven rock collision tests were successfully conducted.