The book focuses primarily on experimental and analytical methods developed over many years to characterize the deformation and fracture of brittle materials under dynamic loading conditions. The dynamic response of brittle materials is highly nonlinear and complex, with practical applications ranging from explosive excavation of rocks to the design of ceramic armor and the protection of spacecraft windows from meteor impacts. It provides a comprehensive exploration of the challenges and methodologies involved in impact experiments and computational modeling of brittle solids under shock and impact loading, making it essential reading for those seeking realistic solutions to blast and ballistic problems.

For example, the book emphasizes the significance of validating numerical code solutions through simulations. This involves understanding and evaluating the impact of various factors such as appropriate boundary conditions, high-resolution finite element meshes, solution time steps, contact algorithms, interface modeling, artificial viscosity, erosion of elements, particle conversion, and model parameters on the accuracy of solutions. It selectively presents examples of modeling and simulations of ballistic problems drawn from the open literature.

While numerous articles on the book's topic exist in the literature, this volume integrates key aspects of high strain rate impact experiments, modeling, and simulations of brittle failure in ceramics, rocks, oil shale, and cementitious materials across various stress and strain states. To the best of the authors' knowledge, no other compilation covers such a wide array of experimental techniques used in this field, particularly for ceramics, yet adaptable for other heterogeneous brittle solids.

Despite the extensive literature on this subject, most impact experimental configurations have been limited to specific geometries and have not encompassed the broad range of techniques necessary to characterize and validate constitutive behaviors used in modern numerical codes. Many researchers and engineers are often unaware of the specialized experiments and models presented in international conference proceedings or technical presentations. This book addresses that gap by encompassing a broader range of unique impact experiments, constitutive and damage modeling, and computational simulations not found in any existing publication.

Autorentext

Dr. Rajendran obtained his master's degree from the IIT Kanpur and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA in 1981. Arunachalam M. Rajendran serves as Chair and University Distinguished Professor for the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS. Prior to joining the University of Mississippi, Dr. Rajendran served the U.S. Army Research Office as Chief Scientist for the Engineering Sciences Directorate. Dr Rajendran primarily works on failure of materials under shock and impact. He has published more than 150 articles, and edited 10 books, and chaired more than 50 international conferences and symposiums. He has given invited/keynote talks at more than 100 universities and symposiums throughout the world.

Dr. Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan received his B.E. degree from UVCE, Bangalore, master's degree in engineering mechanics from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai and Ph.D. from School of Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University, USA, in December 1992. After his Ph.D., he was Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. In November 1997, he joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, where currently he works as Senior Professor. His main areas of interest are wave propagation in complex media, computational material science, computational mechanics, smart structures, structural health monitoring, mems, and nano composite structures. He has published a total of 234 international journal papers, 8 graduate level textbooks, 2 undergraduate books, 13 book chapters, and 160 international conference papers. He has given invited/keynote talks at more than 100 universities and symposiums worldwide.

Stephen Bless is a world-renowned shock physicist, who has made significant contribution in understanding propagation of shock waves in structures and materials. He got his Sc.D. degree (Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1970), S.M. degree (Earth and Planetary Sciences, 1968), and B.Sc. degree (Physics, 1965) all from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His areas of expertise are impact and shock wave physics, penetration of soils including sand and clay, dynamic behavior of natural and engineering materials under extreme loading, and terminal ballistics. He is currently Research Professor at New York University in the Department of Civil and Environment Engineering. Dr Bless has more than 100 referred publications and 2 patents.