Dynamic compressive tests of sand under passive confining pressure were carried out using a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) setup. The dynamic response, energy dissipation and particle-breaking behaviors of sand subjected to high-speed impact were investigated. Sand specimens with moisture contents of 0%, 2%, 4%, 8%, 10% and 12% and relative densities of 0.1, 0.5 and 0.9 were prepared. The variation in the strain rate was controlled between 90 s-1 and 500 s-1. The specimens were confined in a designed sleeve to create passive confining pressure. The experimental results show that the sand specimens were extremely sensitive to the strain rate. When the strain rate was less than 400 s-1, the stress and strain of the specimens increased with the increase in the strain rate but decreased when the strain rate exceeded 400 s-1. The peak strain and peak stress increased with the increase in the relative density. Particle breakage was aggravated with the strain-rate increase. Compared with the specimen without water, the relative breakage rate of the specimen with a moisture content of 12% decreased by 30.53% when the strain rate was about 95 s-1 and by 25.44% when the strain rate was about 460 s-1. The analysis of energy dissipation revealed the essential cause of sand destruction. The specific energy absorption rate increased with the increases in the initial relative density and moisture content.
Keywords: SHPB; dynamic compressive behaviors; impact dynamic response; particle breakage; passive confining pressure; sand.