Load-Time Response of Colliding Concrete Bodies

Concrete-to-concrete collisions may occur between breakwater armor elements. In assessing the resistance of the individual armor elements, next to concrete technology aspects and hydraulic aspects, information should be obtained regarding the load-time history of concrete-to-concrete impact. The latter aspect is studied in a series of dynamic experiments on different contact surface geometries. Variables in the experiments are the impact velocity, the concrete quality, the mass of the striker element, and the contact surface geometry, i.e., spherical planar, conical planar, truncated conical planar, and spherical corrugated geometries of the striker target surface. A simple elastoplastic contact model is developed, based on four parameters that can be determined from static tests on the same contact surface geometry.