Relationship between diameter of split Hopkinson pressure bar and minimum loading rate under rock failure

In order to investigate the relationship between bar diameter and loading rate of the split Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB) setup under the failure of rock specimen and realize the medium strain rate loading of specimen, new SHPB setups with different elastic bar's diameters of 22, 36, 50 and 75 mm were constructed. The tests were carried out on these setups at different loading rates, and the specimens had the same diameter of elastic bars and same ratio of length to diameter. The test results show that the larger the elastic bar's diameter is, the less the loading rate is needed to cause specimen failure, they show good power relationship, and that under the same strain rate loading, specimens are broken more seriously with larger diameter SHPB setup than with smaller one.