Instability Testing of Compact and Pipe Specimens Utilizing a Test System Made Compliant by Computer Control

摘要

The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that a computer controlled test machine can replace a test machine made compliant by a mechanical spring for tearing instability testing of simple compact and cracked pipe geometries. For both geometries tested herein close agreement was demonstrated betweem the computer compliant and spring compliant test systems. The results show that though the computerized system utilized here is slower than the spring machine, this is not a serious drawback for structural meterials with low to moderate rate dependence. The inertia free response of the computerized system is in fact a positive feature for studying tearing instability arrest and promises to be very useful in further studies in that area.