Pulse loading shape effects on pressure-impulse diagram of an elastic-plastic, single-degree-of-freedom structural model

Pulse loading shape effects on the dynamical response of an elastic-plastic, single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structural model are studied in the present paper. Two dimensionless parameters are introduced to classify the studied problem into elastic, elastic-plastic and rigid-plastic structural responses. When structural damage is controlled by maximum structural deflection, a characteristic curve in loading parameter space can be used to define an isodamage curve, i.e., pressure-impulse diagram, which is generally loading-shape-dependent. Dimensionless loading parameters, termed as effective loading parameters, are introduced in the present paper to give unique loading-shape-independent pressure-impulse diagram for each response category. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.