ABSTRACT
In general, the structures of automotive, aircraft, ship and mass transit bodies are subjected to a wide range of dynamic loads, which require prior knowledge of dynamic mechanical properties to prevent catastrophic failure at high loading rates. From the literature studies, it is found that the experimental techniques to achieve medium strain rates in the range of 1–100 s–1 are not well established. In order to overcome these challenges, a drop mass test setup is designed and employed for an intermediate range of strain rates, which can serve as a cost-effective alternative to servo-hydraulic machines. The proposed setup is compatible with a non-contact strain measurement technique, also called a digital image correlation technique (DIC).
