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Masonry is a construction technique which typically reacts in compression. Characterization of its material properties in compression is thus of paramount importance. This especially counts for adobe bricks because their material properties are still unknown to a large extent. This traditional masonry, made of locally available soil and fibres, is spread in areas currently involved in military conflicts, where also European forces operate. Therefore, not only its static properties in compression, but even more the dynamic strength is a relevant parameter. Laboratory characterization of material properties still pose several challenges, among which so-called size dependence is one of the most controversial topics. This entails the possible variation of material properties values from tests on specimens of different size and shape. Several factors may concur to its determination and a well-founded theory does not exist yet. This counts for statics and even more in dynamics. Addressing the properties in compression of bricks at high strain rates is rare, namely no studies of size dependence on masonry bricks in dynamic regimes are published. Lately, a series of experimental campaigns were conducted by the authors at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. In these campaigns, a series of compression tests were performed on several types of adobe bricks. Different soil mixtures were used to produce cylindrical samples of different sizes. Compressive tests from 2e-5 s-1 to 10 s-1 and 100 s-2 were executed using hydraulic machines as well as split Hopkinson bars. Next, the static as well as the dynamic material properties as calculated from tests on specimens of different sizes and material compositions have been qualitatively and quantitatively compared and interpreted. In this paper, the experimental program is presented, next the material properties in strength and ductility as well as the dynamic increase factors are investigated.

This work presents the stages of development of some innovative equipment, based on Hopkinson bar techniques, for performing large scale dynamic tests of concrete specimens. The activity is centered at the recently upgraded HOPLAB facility, which is basically a split Hopkinson bar with a total length of approximately 200 m and with bar diameters of 72 mm. Through pre-tensioning and suddenly releasing a steel cable, force pulses of up to 2 MN, 250 μs rise time and 40 ms duration can be generated and applied to the specimen tested. The dynamic compression loading has first been treated and several modifications in the basic configuration have been introduced. Twin incident and transmitter bars have been installed with strong steel plates at their ends where large specimens can be accommodated. A series of calibration and qualification tests has been conducted and the first real tests on concrete cylindrical specimens of 20cm diameter and up to 40cm length have commenced. Preliminary results from the analysis of the recorded signals indicate proper Hopkinson bar testing conditions and reliable functioning of the facility.

This paper describes a numerical inverse method to extract material strength parameters from the experimental data obtained via mechanical tests at different strainrates and temperatures. It will be shown that this procedure is particularly useful to analyse experimental results when the stress-strain fields in the specimen cannot be correctly described via analytical models. This commonly happens in specimens with no regular shape, in specimens with a regular shape when some instability phenomena occur (for example the necking phenomena in tensile tests that create a strongly heterogeneous stress-strain fields) or in dynamic tests (where the strain-rate field is not constant due to wave propagation phenomena). Furthermore the developed procedure is useful to take into account thermal phenomena generally affecting high strain-rate tests due to the adiabatic overheating related to the conversion of plastic work. The method presented requires strong effort both from experimental and numerical point of view, anyway it allows to precisely identify the parameters of different material models. This could provide great advantages when high reliability of the material behaviour is necessary. Applicability of this method is particularly indicated for special applications in the field of aerospace engineering, ballistic, crashworthiness studies or particle accelerator technologies, where materials could be submitted to strong plastic deformations at high-strain rate in a wide range of temperature. Thermal softening effect has been investigated in a temperature range between 20°C and 1000°C.

We used AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors as room-temperature direct detectors of radiation at 0.15 THz from a free electron laser, hence 5 times higher than their cutoff frequency of 30 GHz. By near-field active mapping we investigated the antenna-like coupling of the radiation to the transistor channel. We formulate a model for the detection based on self-mixing in the transistor channel. The noise equivalent power is found in the range of 10−7 W/Hz0.5 without any optimization of the device responsivity. Present day AlGaN/GaN fabrication technology may provide operation at higher frequency, integration of amplifiers for improved responsivity and fast switches for multiplexing, which make the detector here described the basic element of a monolithic terahertz focal plane array.

Specimen manufacturing is one of the critical issues to solve during a dynamic material characterization, especially by mean of the Hopkinson bar technique. In particular, concerning tensile testing, the sample is generally axisymmetric with two threaded ends to directly connect it to the Hopkinson bars. In this context, this work presents the development of an innovative sample geometry and related fixtures that can be widely adopted when conventional manufacturing procedures are problematic or when there are numerous specimens. The Tensile Hopkinson Extruded Design Sample (THEDS) geometry requires properly shaped bar ends that can be obtained by wire electrical-discharge machining. The THEDS geometry has been efficiently applied to a test campaign on electron-beam welded copper and niobium specimens. The performances of the developed geometry have first been assessed using digital image correlation (DIC) to compare the results obtained at quasi-static and intermediate velocities with a standard tensile specimen geometry. Secondly, dynamic tests at up to about 1000 s-1 have been performed with a modified Hopkinson bar system at the European Commission (JRC) using the THEDS geometry.

Critical infrastructures may become the target of terrorist bombing attacks or may have to withstand explosive loads due to accidents. The impulsive load connected to explosions is delivered to the structure in a few milliseconds forcing it to respond or fail in a peculiar mode. With reference to the above scientific framework this work presents an innovative apparatus designed and developed at the European Laboratory for Structural Assessment to reproduce a blast pressure history without using explosives. This apparatus is practically a hybrid nitrogen-spring-driven actuator that accelerates masses of up to 100 kg to a maximum velocity of about 25 m/s that impact against the tested structure. The pressure-load history applied to the structure is modulated and reshaped using appropriate layers of elastic soft materials (such as polymeric foams) placed between the specimen and the impacting masses. Specific instrumentation has extensively been utilised to investigate the blast simulator performance and to precisely measure the pressure loads applied to the specimen. A series of tests on real scale reinforced concrete beams/columns (250 × 250 × 2200 mm) has been performed to efficiently assess the performance and potentiality of the new blast simulator. Results are under evaluation. In addition to the experimental work, a series of numerical simulations by means of the explicit FEM code EUROPLEXUS have been carried out to support and improve the equipment design.

In this work a particular cement composite material for protection of structures and infrastructures against accidental actions, such as blast or impact, has been investigated. An experimental procedure has been developed in order to assess static and dynamic behaviour of energy absorbing cementitious composites. The granular cementitious composite has been studied focusing attention to compressive strength, high deformation and energy dissipation capacity which are important characteristics for an absorber material. An experimental characterization of the material behaviour under compressive static and dynamic loadings has been carried out. Different deformation velocities have been studied in order to define the material behaviour in a wide range of strain rates. The velocity range up to 0.1 m/s is investigated by means of a universal servo-hydraulic MTS 50 kN testing machine. Some preliminary results have been reported and discussed in the present work.

The structural behaviour of reinforced concrete is governed significantly by the transmission of forces between steel and concrete. The bond is of special importance for the overlapping joint and anchoring of the reinforcement, where rigid bond is required. It also plays an important role in the rotational capacity of plastic hinges, where a ductile bond behaviour is preferable. Similar to the mechanical properties of concrete and steel also the characteristics of their interaction changes with the velocity of the applied loading. For smooth steel bars with its main bond mechanisms of adhesion and friction, nearly no influence of loading rate is reported in literature. In contrast, a high rate dependence can be found for the nowadays mainly used deformed bars. For mechanical interlock, where ribs of the reinforcing steel are bracing concrete material surrounding the bar, one reason can be assumed to be in direct connection with the increase of concrete compressive strength. For splitting failure of bond, characterized by the concrete tensile strength, an even higher dynamic increase is observed. For the design of Structures exposed to blast or impact loading the knowledge of a rate dependent bond stress-slip relationship is required to consider safety and economical aspects at the same time. The bond behaviour of reinforced concrete has been investigated with different experimental methods at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich (UniBw) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra. Both static and dynamic tests have been carried out, where innovative experimental apparatuses have been used. The bond stress-slip relationship and maximum pull-out-forces for varying diameter of the bar, concrete compressive strength and loading rates have been obtained. It is expected that these experimental results will contribute to a better understanding of the rate dependent bond behaviour and will serve for calibration of numerical models.