A Crushable Experimental Device for Simulating Soft Impact on Structures

To investigate collision accidents such as vehicles and vessels impacting on structures in the laboratory, this paper introduces a type of novel experimental equipment, which is a soft impactor consisting of one nonlinear deformable unit and two impact force measuring units. The configuration and design philosophy of the experimental device is described in detail in the study. Three different load ratios of the lateral compression tests were carried out on the deformable unit to provide a basic understanding of its mechanical properties. Then two horizontal impact tests were performed to simulate the collision of the vehicle with RC circular bridge piers and the impact process was recorded by a high-speed camera. The time histories of two critical parameters for evaluating the impactor’s performance, crush deformation and energy dissipation of the deformable unit were calculated, and its final energy consumption was compared with that under lateral compression tests. The results show that the device can well reproduce the nonlinear behavior of vehicles involving crumpling and energy dissipation. Furthermore, the equipment has a simple design, easy installation, and convenient numerical simulation. Its performance is highly controllable, and it can fulfill a variety of test requirements by modifying the specifications of the steel tube in the deformable unit.