Response of circular clamped plates to square-wave stress pulses

An account is given of an experimental investigation of the reeponse of clamped circular mild-steel plates of various thicknesses subjected to rectangular stress pulses over a small circular region. The stress pulses were transmitted to the plates through a 1/2-in.-diam shock bar and the strain-time responses of the plates were measured. The stress-wave interactions between the bar and the plates were measured for a number of thicknesses and the effect of the applied stress on the extent of the plastic deformation was determined. It was found that the elastic response was accurately predicted by the theory of Sneddon and the plastic response behaved according to a simple modification of this theory. The interaction between the stress pulse and plates of various thickness was theoretically predicted and found to be in excellent agreement with experimental measurements. The final plate deflections were theoretically predicted using a rigid viscoplastic theory and was in substantial agreement with the data. From this theory, the data were analyzed to determine the visco-plastic constant or relaxation time of the material. It is proposed that this testing arrangement is a suitable and convenient method for determining dynamic yield properties under biaxial-loading conditions.