Dynamic Behavior of a New Type of Coral Aggregate Concrete: Experimental and Numerical Investigation

Split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) with 75-mm diameter is used to conduct dynamic impact compression tests on different strength grades of basic magnesium sulfate cement-coral aggregate concrete (BMSC-CAC). The failure process of BMSC-CAC under dynamic impact compression is simulated using the finite element software LS-DYNA and a three-dimensional random aggregate mesoscopic model. The results show that BMSC-CAC has a significant strain rate effect, and the dynamic impact strength increases as the strain rate increases. Because of the high toughness of BMSC, BMSC-CAC has higher energy absorption than coral aggregate seawater concrete (CASC) and sisal fiber coral aggregate seawater concrete (SFCASC). The LS-DYNA software is used for the numerical simulation of the mesoscale dynamic impact compression. The relative error of the peak stress and strain between the test and simulation results is small. Analysis of the failure process indicates that the damage extent of the aggregate increases, and the failure time decreases with an increase in the strain rate.