Experimental study of the behaviour of building structural elements under soft impact

Dynamic three-point bend tests are performed on small beams specimen made of a quasi-brittle material. The most classical hypotheses needed to analyse the tests with SHPB, which are based on a state of quasi-static balance of the body, cannot be used. In order to get the behaviour it is necessary to perform a transient analysis of the specimen response. In most cases, the useful duration of the test – the elapsed time between the beginning of the load and the total failure – is lower than the time needed by the waves to reach the supports. The test is thus called a “one point bending test”. In the case of bending failure, an analysis of the tests is possible by using only the measures given by the input bar. The technique is based on the knowledge of the analytical solution of the transient elastic response of the specimen. The failure mechanisms involved are specific features of the dynamic response. Different failure modes can be observed according to the loading rate: bending or shear fracture, single or multiple fractures. The determination of the bending moments and the rotations of the beam section, where the failure occurs, lead to an estimation of the strength and the failure energy

Vulnerability of constructions under impacts and explosions

International audienc

Vulnerability of constructions under impacts and explosions

International audienc

Dynamic boiling tests in a 19-pin simulated LMFBR fuel assembly

A series of quasi-steady state tests were made to study dynamic boiling and to determine a boiling region which would not lead to immediate dryout and pin failure in the Thermal-Hydraulic Out-of-Reactor Safety (THORS) Facility (previously the Fuel Failure Mockup), an engineering-scale sodium loop for testing simulated LMFBR fuel assemblies at normal and off-normal operating conditions. These tests were made on an assembly consisting of 19 electrically heated pins of the same configuration as FFTF fuel. Approximately 50 flow transients were so conducted to boiling or near boiling over a range of flows and powers. Dryout occurred at three test conditions

Response of a tank under blast loading -- part I: experimental characterisation of blast loading arising from a gas explosion

International audienc

Response of a tank under blast loading – part II: experimental structural response and simplified analytical approach

International audienc