Team invents new pressure bar tech

STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State University researchers have patented and licensed a major advancement in Split-Hopkinson pressure bar technology, significantly reducing the amount of space needed for intermediate and high-strain rate testing. While conducting research on infant head trauma, researchers at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems needed a way to conduct impact testing with biological materials. While a traditional Hopkinson bar system, an apparatus commonly used for testing impact and strain on materials, would have worked, it would have taken up hundreds of feet - space not available at the research center. However, CAVS engineers were able to prototype a serpentine bar that can accomplish the same task in only 20 feet of space. “We’ve already used this product in our work for the military, national labs, and automotive companies,” said CAVS engineer Wilburn Whittington. After the team patented the new technology, it gained interest from the scientific community and REL, a Michigan-based manufacturer that makes and sells Hopkinson bar systems. (Source: MSU 02/2620) Beginning in 2014, researchers at the Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss., developed a Split-Hopkinson pressure bar testing lab. The development came about as a result of multiple researchers across the ERDC studying the behavior of materials at high strain rates including computational simulations, experimental studies of materials and development of advanced materials. The application of these studies ranged from blast effects to ballistic resistant materials. For many of the materials ERDC studies, there was a greater need so these researchers went to work. The GLS project began in 2014, after working on other bars, including those located at Mississippi State University and the Air Force Research Laboratory. ERDC labs collaborate to address R&D in five major areas: Military Engineering, Environmental Quality and Installations, Water Resources, Geospatial Research and Engineering and Engineered Resilient Systems. ERDC research programs happen at seven laboratories in four states, including the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Environmental Laboratory, Geotechnical and Structures and Information Technology Laboratory, all in Vicksburg. ERDC’s five primary technical areas are Warfighter Support – geospatial information; system development; operational support; force protection; and force projection and sustainment; Installations – transformation; operations; and environmental issues; Environment – remediation and restoration; land planning, stewardship & management; threatened & endangered species; and cultural resources; Water Resources – infrastructure, water resources, environmental issues, and navigation; and flood control and storm damage reduction; and Information Technology – informatics; geospatial technologies; computational services; high-performance computing applications. https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2020/02/msu-researchers-invent-significant-advancement-hopkinson-bar-technology