Experimental and empirical study of large transverse deformation of triangular plates subjected to water hammer shock loading

Abstract

In this paper, the dynamic plastic response of isosceles triangular plates under hydrodynamic loads was investigated experimentally using a drop hammer machine. To do this, a series of experimental tests were carried out on mild steel triangular plates with different thicknesses to bring insight into the effect of geometry and mechanical properties of the plate on the deformation of specimens, which were impacted by a piston-induced pressure wave inside a water tube. The effects of various impact loads originated from different drop hammer standoff distances, and hammer weights concerning variations of deflection of the center of mass were described. The experimental results were presented in terms of deflection of the center of mass of the plates and deflection profiles. The experimental results showed that the plate with lower thickness experienced higher deflection-to-thickness ratio. An empirical model was also proposed based on new dimensionless numbers for triangular plates in order to predict the ratio of deflection of the center of mass to thickness. The dimensionless numbers considered the effects of plate geometry, hydrodynamic applied load, and mechanical properties of materials. Comparison between the experimental results and empirical predictions demonstrated that the suggested model is accurate enough to predict of the response of isosceles triangular plates under hydrodynamic loads.