Longitudinal wave propagation determination in concrete specimen under impact loading by ultrahigh-speed camera image sequence and strain gauge data analysis

Abstract To demonstrate the potential of an ultrahigh-speed camera with frame rates beyond a million images per second for high dynamic material analysis, cylindrical concrete specimens are tested under compression at strain rates up to 164.3 s −1 in a split Hopkinson pressure bar facility. The evaluation includes the determination of the actual longitudinal wave propagation velocity and the induced longitudinal deformations. The results obtained from image sequence analysis are validated with those obtained by the well-established strain gauge measuring technique that estimate the specimen deformation in the same facility. Data analysis for both measuring techniques is based on the one-dimensional wave theory. Image quality challenges affecting the material analysis are overcome by applying a Bézier fitting filter to the image sequences. Using the image-sequence-based approach to select stress-wave-induced motion points, different wave characteristics are acquired. Subsequently, selecting the points in compression during the first stress wave transit yields longitudinal wave propagation velocities up to 2995 m s −1 with a standard deviation of 265 m s −1 . From the validation results, first, an observed bilateral complementarity of both techniques enables a comprehensive analysis of the specimen deformation. Second, individual discrepancies between the material properties obtained from both techniques up to ultimate compressive strength for deformation, velocity, strain, and stress of 20.8 %, 14.4 %, 8.3 %, and 10.0 %, respectively, are achieved.