ON THE RELATION BETWEEN THE HUGONIOT ELASTIC LIMIT AND THE YIELD STRENGTH OF BRITTLE MATERIALS

We derive a new relation between the Hugoniot elastic limit (HEL) of brittle materials and their compressive strength (Y(c)). This relation is based on Griffith's yield criterion [Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Applied Mechanics, Delft, Holland (1924), p. 55] for brittle behavior in contrast with the traditional relation, which is based on the criteria of Tresca or von Mises. Our newly derived relation results in a larger ratio between the HEL and Y(c), in agreement with all the experimental observations on polycrystalline ceramics.