Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-39).Drop towers are used to perform mechanical tests at strain rates similar to those experienced in automobile crashes. By their nature, drop towers are configured to perform compression tests only. This project aims to design a set of fixtures and specimens to allow the machine to perform tensile tests. Two major design options were considered and analyzed using engineering mechanics and finite element analysis. The design selected used a double dog-bone specimen bent into a "U"-shape and impacted by a weighted force sensor with a steel tup attached to the bottom. The appropriate fixtures were designed. Future work on this project includes manufacturing of the fixtures, design and construction of a method for creating the specimens, and physical tensile tests using the new machine configuration.by Jason J. Chan.S.B
