Split short Hopkinson pressure bar (SSHPB) for the dynamic compression of sandstone under different strain rates

This paper proposed the split short Hopkinson pressure bar (SSHPB) with short incident and transmission bars to investigate the dynamic compression characteristics of sandstone under different strain rates. The SSHPB was constructed to carry out impact tests to obtain superimposed stress waves in short bars. The separated stress waves (incident, reflected and transmitted waves) were determined by the proposed wave separation method and further used to determine the stress-strain relationship of sandstone. The SSHPB was validated by comparing the dynamic properties of sandstone determined by the SSHPB with those determined by the traditional split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The effect of the strain rate on the accuracy of the SSHPB was discussed. The results show that the stress-strain relationship of sandstone determined by the SSHPB agrees well with that determined by the traditional SHPB. The variation in the dynamic properties of sandstone with strain rate determined by the SSHPB is similar to that determined by the traditional SHPB. Under different strain rates, the relative error between the dynamic properties of sandstone determined by the SSHPB and traditional SHPB is less than 5%. Compared with the traditional SHPB, the SSHPB can reduce the length of the incident and transmission bars by 50%, which is an alternative to the traditional SHPB. • Split short Hopkinson pressure bar with short pressure bars is constructed. • The accuracy of present split short Hopkinson pressure bar is validated. • Effect of strain rate on accuracy of split short Hopkinson pressure bar is discussed.