Taylor Anvil Impact

Abstract

G. I. Taylor showed that dynamic material properties could be deduced from the impact of a projectile against a rigid boundary. The Taylor anvil test became very useful with the advent of numerical simulations and has been used to infer and/or to validate material constitutive constants. A new experimental facility has been developed to conduct Taylor anvil impacts to support validation of constitutive constants used in numerical simulations. A 37‐mm diameter Hopkinson bar apparatus was adapted to conduct the Taylor anvil experiments. An adaptor was designed to ensure impact planarity of the projectile onto the anvil, which is made from VascoMax steel, backed by a 1.82‐m steel bar to provide inertial mass to the anvil and ensure deceleration of the projectile solely from elastic waves within the projectile. A digital imaging system was adapted to determine radial deformation as a function of length. Details of the experimental techniques, along with examples of experiments using 6061‐T6, are discussed. Numerical simulations are used to complement the experimental results.