Dynamic compressive properties of metaconcrete material

Abstract

• It is the first experiment on dynamic compressive properties of metaconcrete. • Strain rate effect on dynamic compressive properties of metaconcrete is revealed. • Empirical formulae of DIF for dynamic compressive properties are proposed. Metaconcrete consisting of engineered aggregates is a newly manmade construction material possessing the ability to mitigate stress wave propagation and structural vibration. Several recent studies have investigated the responses of metaconcrete structures subjected to blast, impact and vibration loads and demonstrated their favourable performances. Metaconcrete materials, therefore, have great potential for application in the construction of engineering structures against multi-hazardous loads such as earthquake, impact and explosion. For the practical application of metaconcrete material in construction, the material properties need be defined for structural designs. A previous study by the authors tested the static properties of a few metaconcrete materials with different types of engineered aggregates. However, the dynamic properties of metaconcrete material have not been reported yet. This study investigated the dynamic properties of metaconcrete materials with three types of engineered aggregates, i.e., the conventional rubber-coated steel balls (RCSBs) and two types of enhanced RCSBs (ERCSB) (i.e., RCSBs with enhanced coating). Dynamic compression tests on the mortar-based and concrete-based metaconcrete materials were conducted by using the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) system. Failure process, failure modes, dynamic compressive strength as well as energy absorption capacities at different strain rates of metaconcrete specimens were obtained. Dynamic increase factor (DIF) for compressive strength and energy absorption capacity of metaconcrete materials were derived and the corresponding empirical formulae were proposed. The results can be used to model the dynamic properties of metaconcrete materials in structural designs to resist dynamic loads.