SHPB / Kolsky Bar Reference Material

REL’s 15 years of experience in designing, building and optimizing Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) / Kolsky Bar testing systems and techniques has put REL at the forefront of this expanding testing area. Below are references for the theory, setup, calibration, gage mounting, sample testing and software instructions for users performing high strain rate testing on materials using a SHPB / Kolsky Bar.

SHPB Calibration Manual and Sample Test (Compression)

SHPB Equations used in SURE-Pulse

SHPB Momentum Trapping Techniques

SHPB Strain Gage Application Instructions

SHPB System Setup & Preparation

SURE-Pulse Software Manual

REL works closely with researchers worldwide to develop highly reliable SHPB / Kolsky Bar systems and methods to test a variety of materials at various strain rates and configurations. Some published work by researchers REL collaborates with are listed below:

Ceramic and Composite Materials:

1. T. Chakraborty, S. Mishra, J. Loukus, B. Halonen, B. Bekkala “Characterization of rocks through large diameter split hopkinson pressure bar and achieved force equilibrium”. Submitted to International Journal of Impact Engineering, April 28, 2015

2. G. Subhash, “Dynamic Indentation Testing” ASM Handbook, volume 8, Mechanical Testing and Evaluation, 2000.

3. G. Subhash, G. Ravichandran, “Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar Testing of Ceramics” ASM Handbook, volume 8, 2000.

Soft Materials using Polymer Bar:

1. Q. Liu and G. Subhash, “Characterization of viscoelastic properties of polymer bar using iterative deconvolution in the time domain” Mechanics of Materials, Vol. 38[12], pp. 1105-1117 (2006).

2. J.W. Kwon+ and G. Subhash* “Compressive Strain Rate Sensitivity of Ballistic Gelatin,” Journal of Biomechanics 43 (2010) 420-425.

3. Bo Song, Weinong Chen, “Split Hopkinson pressure bar techniques for characterizing soft materials” Latin American Journal of Solids and Structures, 2 (2005) 113-152.