Incorporation of the effect of strain rate in Mie-Gruneisen equation of state for polyethylene

Abstract

Volume change versus pressure is expressed through an equation of state (EOS) such as the well-known Mie-Gruneisen equation. Equation of state is an essential requirement to be defined for numerical simulation of high rate events such as impact. All EOSs have some coefficients which are identified by experiment and are usually considered constant and strain rate independent. In this study, the effect of strain rate on the coefficients of Mie-Gruneisen equation is obtained for polyethylene by experiment and numerical simulation. The low and high strain rate compression tests are conducted using Instron testing machine and Hopkinson bar, respectively. The load-displacement and load-volume change curves are obtained from the experiments. The strain rate dependent constants of Mie-Gruneisen equation of state are obtained through a combined experimental/numerical/optimization technique. The compression test is simulated using Ls-dyna hydrocode. The results show that the coefficient γ is not affected by strain rate but the coefficients C and S1 are severely strain rate dependent. The latter varies with strain rate in a linear fashion and the former varies cubically with strain rate.