Experimental study of failure in pre-notched beams under transverse impact

摘要

Experiments were conducted aiming to investigate the dynamic behaviour of clamped beams with a pre-notch at the mid span, struck by of a mass dropped from various heights. The results are given in terms of the energy absorption in the beams, contact force and failure types. It was observed that the increase in the incident energy leads to different failure modes. It is also observed that the pre-notch makes the beam much easier to break. Much more plastic dissipation is localized at the pre-notched cross-section. Typically, the beam fails by a Mode Ⅱ (tensile tearing) for most of the tested cases, by a Mode Ⅰ (large inelastic deformations) for low incident energy, and by Mode Ⅲ (transverse shear failure) for high incident energy.