Original article

Proc IMechE Part L:

J Materials: Design and Applications
New dimensionless numbers for 0(0) 1–15
! IMechE 2016
deformation of circular mild steel plates Reprints and permissions:
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with large strains as a result of localized DOI: 10.1177/1464420716654195

pil.sagepub.com

and uniform impulsive loading

Hashem Babaei and Tohid Mirzababaie Mostofi

Abstract
This study introduces an empirical analysis approach to assess mechanical behavior of thin circular mild steel plates
subjected to uniform and localized impulsive loading. The empirical models have been derived by singular values decom-
position procedure to predict midpoint deflection of circular plates. The essence of empirical analysis is based on
dimensionless numbers. For this, Jones’s dimensionless number  is considered as a dimensionless number for both
uniform and localized loading. This number has some features such as considering plate geometries, mechanical proper-
ties of material, and loading conditions. The well-known Cowper–Symonds constitutive equation has been used to
investigate the potential influence of material strain rate sensitivity where the constant parameters in this equation
are considered as a function of plate thickness. In localized impulsive loading, two other dimensionless numbers are
appended to investigate the effects of changing load ratio and standoff distance. The results of empirical models are
compared to the other experimental and theoretical studies which have been performed by different researchers. Also,
the obtained results show that the presented models have much less root mean square error than the other ones.
Hence, these models are suitable to predict midpoint deflection of thin circular plates subjected to both uniform and
localized impulsive loading.

Keywords
Circular plate, central deflection, dimensional analysis, emprical modeling, impulsive load

Date received: 7 April 2016; accepted: 20 May 2016

Introduction appropriate approximation to simplify the analysis

Many studies have experimentally and theoretically
been performed in order to investigate dynamic plas-
tic response of structures such as beams, shells, circu-
lar, and rectangular plates.1–29 The primary presented
theoretical models for circular plates were only dedi-
cated to prediction of small deflections. Hudson inves-
tigated the effects of dynamic loads on circular plates
and thin disks based on only bending action. Then,
Jones,5 Noble and Oxley,6 Batra and Dubey,7
Lippmann,8 and Ghosh and Weber9 studied the
behavior of plates subjected to dynamic loading by
appending membrane effects to bending effects while
supposing a deformed shape. The presented theoret-
ical analysis by Jones5 predicted the midpoint deflec-
tion of simply supported thin circular plates with
good accuracy relative to experimental data under
uniform impulsive loading. Soares10 demonstrated
that using permanent mode shape could be an
when the exact solutions may not be generated.
Therefore, he suggested the mode approximation
technique to investigate the behavior of circular
rigid plastic plate subjected to impulsive loading.
The analysis solution is acquired by the methodology
extended by Jones,11 which have been applied to some
structures such as shells of revolution, asymmetrical
plates, and beams.
Duffey and Key12,13 used energy approach to study
the behavior of rigid plastic materials by equating the
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, University
of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Corresponding author:
Hashem Babaei, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering
Faculty, University of Guilan, PO Box 3756-41635, Rasht, Iran.
Email: ghbabaei@guilan.ac.ir

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2 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 0(0)
initial kinetic energy to the strain energy. In this
research, numerous shapes of deformation profile
such as different polynomial forms and sinusoidal
were supposed to be more accurate in comparison
to the experimental results. Also, Johnson14 con-
sidered straightforward energy notions with a sup-
posed shape of deformation profile. Later, Nurick
and Martin15,16 presented a general review of experi-
mental and theoretical results, which had been pre-
sented until 1989 and mostly deal with thin plates
under uniformly distributed load. In recent years,
Babaei and Darvizeh17–19 attempted to describe an
analytical analysis based on upper bound solution.
They presented analytical models to predict midpoint
deflection of thin circular plates subjected to uniform
and localized impulsive loading for fully clamped
boundary condition. The deformation profile shape
was explained by parabolic and zero-order Bessel
function. Later, Micallef et al.20,21 presented an ana-
lytical model to study the transverse displacement of
circular steel plates under locally distributed impulsive
loading for simply supported boundary.
The major purpose of this paper is to introduce the
empirical models for prediction of midpoint deflection
of thin circular mild steel plates subjected to uni-
formly and locally distributed impulsive loads for
clamped boundary condition using singular value
decomposition (SVD) approach and input and
output experimental data, which have been performed
by different researchers in literature. The empirical
equations are presented based on the dimensional
analysis and new dimensionless numbers. These num-
bers have some features such as considering plate geo-
metries, mechanical properties of material, loading
conditions, strain rate sensitivity of materials, and
standoff distance. The empirical models are pretested
for two different conditions when the Cowper–
Symonds coefficients are constant or as function of
plate thickness. It should be mentioned that these
coefficients were considered as constant parameters
in most investigations.
Figure 1. Schematic of experimental set-up.
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Experimental results
Up to now, many experimental investigations have
been performed to study large deformation of circular
and rectangular plates subjected to dynamic loading
with various types of loading. In these investigations,
the maximum deflection of deformed plates and
impulse of applied load have been measured. It is
noteworthy that the shape and magnitude of the
deformed plates appertain to the type of dynamic
loading. In this study, 10 series of experimental
results15,16,22–29 were used to determine the efficacy
of different quantities such as dimensions, material
properties, and loading conditions on magnitude of
central deflection of thin circular plates subjected to
impulsive loading. These experimental results have
been obtained through the same methods using plastic
explosive for making impulsive loads measured by
ballistic pendulum. As demonstrated in Figure 1, all
of the sample plates were set to the ballistic pendulum,
which were securely sandwiched by support plates.
The shape of plastic explosive is similar to the cir-
cular disk, which is placed on a polystyrene pad over
the sample plates to impede spalling. According to
Figure 2, the explosive shape adjusts uniform or loca-
lized. Also, a detonator was appended to the circular
explosive disk at the center.
The various experimental results for thin circular
plates subjected to locally and uniformly distributed
impulsive loads which are summarized in Table 1. It
should be noted that all of the test plates are made of
mild steel with material density of 7860 kg/m3.
In series 1–6, the effect of uniformly distributed
impulsive load on circular plates with various plate
radii and material properties has been considered. In
these studies, five various plate radii
(R ¼ 30, 32, 40, 50, 60 mm) with two different plate
thicknesses (H ¼ 1:6, 1:9 mm) are investigated.
In series 7–10, the effect of locally distributed
impulsive load without and with standoff on circular
plates has been studied. Also, the effect of changing
Babaei and Mostofi 3

Figure 2. Schematic of explosive conditions.

Table 1. Summary of experimental conditions for circular mild steel plates subjected to both uniform and localized loading
( ¼ 7860 kg/m3 for all cases).

Standoff
Load distance Load W0  W0 
Series Data type R (mm) H (mm) (mm) ratio RR0 y (MPa) H min H max Imin (N.s) Imax (N.s)

1 8 U 32 1.9 – – 223 0.5 6.5 0.9 7.2

2 21 U 50 1.6 – – 282 3.8 12.4 5.6 15.6
3 143 U 50 1.6 – – 270 2.9 17.5 4.6 22
4 7 U 50 1.6 – – 255 4.5 12.8 5.2 16.5
5. 133 U 30 1.6 – – 290 1.7 21.7 1.4 30.9
40
50
60
6 16 U 50 1.6 – – 262 3.2 9.3 4.6 14.2
7 21 L 32 1.9 – 0.33 223 1.1 6 0.8 4
0.5
8 42 L 50 1.6 – 0.18 250 5.8 18.7 2.7 12.4
0.25
0.33
0.4
9 19 L 50 1.6 – 0.25 252 4.5 15.7 6.6 31.3
2.6 0.33
3.6 0.4
10 69 L 50 1.9 13, 25 0.017 240 2.8 13.2 8.4 33.5
30, 40
50, 80
100, 150
200, 250
300
U: uniform load; L: localized load.
1
. Bodner and Symonds22; 2. Nurick and Martin15,16; 3. Nurick and Teeling-Smith23; 4. Nurick and Lumpp26; 5. Nurick et al.25; 6. Thomas and Nurick24;
7. Bodner and Symonds22; 8. Nurick and Radford27; 9. Chung Kim Yuen and Nurick28; 10. Jacob et al.29

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4 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 0(0)

load ratios and standoff distances has been investi-
gated on mentioned plates with various plate thick-
nesses and material properties.
Theoretical analysis
Shells, beams, and plates are used in pressure vessels
as fundamental structural elements. For this, many
experimental, theoretical, and empirical studies have
been conducted on the dynamic plastic response of
these structures subjected to different type of dynamic
loading such as impulsive loading. Thus, it seems
necessary to use a dimensionless method to compare
the results of different experimental works using vari-
ous dimensions, plate geometries, loading, and
boundary conditions.
In this section, empirical analysis based on dimen-
sionless numbers is used to predict central deflection
of thin circular plates subjected to uniform and loca-
lized loading. Jones30 presented a dimensionless
number ðlÞ to assess the dynamic plastic behavior of
metal structures. After many years, Zhao recast
Jones’s dimensionless number into new form ðRn Þ
based on Johnson’s damage number.
 
4V20 L 2
l¼ ð1Þ
y H
 2
L l
Rn ¼ Dn ¼ ð2Þ
H 4
Where and y are density and static yield stress of
materials, L is the half length of structures such as
plates and beams, H is the plate and beam thickness.
Also, V0 is the velocity of applied dynamic loading.
It was observed that unlike Johnson’s damage
number, Jones’s dimensionless number considers the
plate geometry and loading conditions.
Nurick and Martin15,16 presented two dimension-
less relations based on Johnson’s damage number to
predict central deflection of thin circular plates sub-
jected to both locally and uniformly distributed
impulsive loads.
W0
¼ 0:425c ð3Þ
H
W0
¼ 0:425cl ð4Þ
H
Here, WH0 is the dimensionless deflection. c and cl
are dimensionless impulse number for uniform and
localized loading respectively, where their relations
have been reported in various references.15,16,29 It is
noteworthy to say that equation (4) is the only empir-
ical relation for circular plates subjected to localized
loading. In another attempt, Hu31 recast many empir-
ical and theoretical models of circular and rectangular
plates32–36 subjected to uniform impulsive loads into
new forms based on Zhao’s dimensionless number.
These equations are presented in Table 2 based on
Jones’s dimensionless number.
In this paper, a new method is used to obtain three
dimensionless relations based on the input and output
experimental data pairs to predict the dimensionless
deflection of thin circular plate subjected to uniform
and localized loading. So, for deriving empirical

Table 2. Empirical and theoretical models based on Jones’s dimensionless number.31

References Model Load type

W0 pffiffiffi
Hudson32 ¼ 0:4995  Uniform
H
W0  0:5 pffiffiffi
Duffey12,13 ¼ 0:38 1   þ 2  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Batra and Dubey7 ¼ 0:6  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Lippmann8 ¼ 0:2075  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Ghosh and Weber9 ¼ 0:616  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Symonds and Wierzbicki33 ¼ 0:416  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Soares10 ¼ 0:1678 þ 1  1 Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Calladine34 ¼ 0:3535  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Perrone and Bhadra35 ¼ 0:184  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Jones36 ¼ 0:4085  Uniform
H
W0 pffiffiffi
Nurick and Martin15,16 ¼ 0:212  Uniform
H

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Babaei and Mostofi 5

equations, SVD approach is used in connection with Table 3. The main input and output dimensionless number.
the dimensionless groups, which is incorporated in the
Output Input Input Input Input
process.37,38
Load type ð0 Þ ð 1 Þ ð2 Þ ð3 Þ ð4 Þ
The formal definition  of modeling is to detect a
mathematical function f^ that may be close to real W0
Uniform   – –
one ð fÞ, in order to predict output ðy^ Þ to its real output H
ð yÞ as near as conceivable for a given input vector W0 R0
Localized without   –
x ¼ ðx1 , x2 , x3 , . . . , xn Þ. Hence, given M number of H R
standoff
single output and multi-input data pairs so that W0 R0 S
Localized with  
H R R
yi ¼ fðxi1 , xi2 , xi3 , . . . , xin Þ i ¼ 1, 2, 3, . . . , M ð5Þ standoff

Now, it is conceivable to acquire f^ for any given
input vector in order to predict the values of
output ðy^i Þ. both locally and uniformly distributed loads are sum-
marized in Table 3.
xi ¼ ðxi1 , xi2 , xi3 , . . . , xin Þ ð6Þ For analyzing the dynamic plastic response of
structures, material strain rate sensitivity plays a dom-
y^ i ¼ f^ðxi1 , xi2 , xi3 , . . . , xin Þ i ¼ 1, 2, 3, . . . , M ð7Þ inant role and it can be calculated by using Cowper–
 Symonds constitutive equation
The main issue is to specify f^ and the square of
discrepancy between the predicted and real output is  1q !
"_
minimized. d ¼ y 1þ ¼ y ð11Þ
D
M h
X i2
f^ðxi1 , xi2 , xi3 , . . . , xin Þ  yi ! Min ð8Þ Herein, y and d are the static and dynamic yield
i¼1
stresses of material, respectively. Also, in the above
equation, q and D are the experimental material
In the nondimensional

modeling,
instead of
real constants.
physical variables y, x ¼ y, x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . , xn , a Jones39 proved that these constant values are very
dimensionless
 set,  ¼ ð0 , 1 , 2 , . . . , k Þ is used to sensitive to plate thickness. So, in this study, Jones’s
acquire f^ . experiments40–42 on strain rate sensitive behavior of
the materials have been used to find two polynomial
^ 0i ¼ f^ð1i , 2i , 3i , . . . , ki Þ i ¼ 1, 2, 3, . . . , M ð9Þ relationships between Cowper–Symonds coefficients
 and plate thickness, which are drawn in Figure 3.
The important issue is to specify f^ such that The mean strain rate can be expressed as the fol-
lowing equation for circular plate due to impulsive
M h
X i2 loads29
f^ði1 , i2 , i3 , . . . , in Þ  0i ! Min ð10Þ
i¼1 V0 W0 IW0
"_ ¼ pffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffi ð12Þ
3 2R 2 3 2HR4
In the high rate energy forming process, the effect-
ive quantities to model the midpoint deflection of thin where I is the impulse of applied load and  is the
circular plates subjected to uniform impulsive loading density of material.
are impulse of applied impulsive loading I (Ns), By substituting equation (11) into equation (12),
material density  (kg/m3), plate radius R (m), plate equations (13a) and (13b) can be obtained
thickness H (m) and static yield stress y (Pa), strain
rate sensitivity , charge radius R0 (m), and standoff  1q
W0
distance S (m). It should be mentioned that charge ¼ 1þ ð13aÞ
H
radius and standoff distance are considered only in
locally distributed impulsive load. Therefore, these  1q
quantities have been taken into account to make I
 ¼ pffiffiffi ð13bÞ
some independent dimensionless numbers or param- 3 2R4 D
eters. The advantage of Jones’s dimensionless number
is that this number contains all mentioned effective Based on Table 2
quantities except strain rate sensitivity. So, Jones’s
dimensionless number is one of the main input dimen- W0
0 ¼ ¼ fð1 , 2 , 3 , 4 Þ ð14Þ
sionless number for various loading conditions. The H
main input and output dimensionless numbers for

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6 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 0(0)

Figure 3. Relation of Cowper–Symonds coefficients with plate thickness based on Jones’s experiments.40

Because of using the SVD approach, equation (14) When M5K ¼ 5, the system of linear equations
can be rewritten in the following form may be rewritten as

0 ¼ Cð1 Þ
ð2 Þ ð3 Þ ð4 Þ ð15Þ AX ¼ Y ð20Þ

Now, acquiring the coefficients C,

, , , and is Where
the main purpose of the modeling. Therefore in equa-
tion (10) natural logarithm is used, equation (15) may X ¼ ½
 T ð21Þ
be proposed as a linear relation depending on the
coefficients
, , , and  ¼ ln C Y ¼ ½10 20 . . . M0 T ð22Þ

lnð0 Þ ¼  þ
lnð1 Þ þ lnð2 Þ þ lnð3 Þ þ lnð4 Þ And
ð16Þ 2 3
1 11 12 13 14
Finally, based on M input–output experimental 61 21 22 23 24 7
6. .. .. .. .. 7
data pairs, a system of M linear algebraic equation 6 7
A ¼ 6 .. . . . . 7 ð23Þ
is now created by K¼5 unknown coefficients which 6. .. .. .. .. 7
4 .. . . . . 5
are noted above
1 M1 M2 M3 M4
8 9
>  þ
11 þ 12 þ 13 þ 14 ¼ 10 >
>
> >
>
>
< >
= For solving equation (14), the SVD approach is
 þ
21 þ 22 þ 23 þ 24 ¼ 20
ð17Þ used. In general, to solve most problems of linear
>
> .................................... >
> least squares where some singularities can exist in
>
> >
>
: ; them, SVD is the best approach.
 þ
M1 þ M2 þ M3 þ M4 ¼ M0
To acquire the unknown coefficients of equation
Where (15), the experimental data turned into a dimension-
less data table based on Table 2 and the natural loga-
ij ¼ lnðij Þ i ¼ 1, 2, 3, . . . , M j ¼ 1, 2, 3 ð18Þ rithms equations (18) and (19). Hence, an
uncomplicated model for dimensionless deflection of
And thin circular plates subjected to impulsive loading is
derived by using the SVD approach. The values of the
&i0 ¼ lnði0 Þ i¼ 1, 2, 3, . . . :, M ð19Þ above mentioned coefficients are summarized in
Table 4 for various loading conditions.

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Babaei and Mostofi 7

So, equation (14) can be rewritten as equations (24) W0

¼ 0:393
to (26) for various loading conditions. H
ðLocalized loading  without standoffÞ ð28Þ
W0
¼ 0:286l0:533 0:351 ðUniform loadingÞ ð24Þ
H W0
¼ 0:55 ðLocalized loading  with standoffÞ
 0:165 H
W0 R0 ð29Þ
¼ 0:393l0:499 0:057
H R
ðLocalized loading  without standoffÞ ð25Þ Where

 0:679  0:399  ¼ l0:533 0:351 ð30Þ

W0 0:527 0:281 R0 S
¼ 0:55l 
H R R  0:165
0:499 0:057 R0
ðLocalizedloading  withstandoffÞ ð26Þ ¼l  ð31Þ
R
To simplify equations (24) to (26), these equations are  0:679  0:399
0:527 0:281 R0 S
proposed as ¼l  ð32Þ
R R
W0
¼ 0:286 ðUniform loadingÞ ð27Þ
H
Results and discussion
Table 4. The values of coefficients in equation (15) for vari- In this section, equations (24) to (26) are compared
ous loading conditions. with different sets of the experimental results in
Table 1 in order to demonstrate the ability of present
Load type C
 
empirical equations to predict the midpoint deflection
Uniform 0.286 0.533 0.351 – – of thin circular plates subjected to uniform and loca-
Localized without 0.393 0.499 0.057 0.165 – lized impulsive loading.
standoff Figures 4 to 9 demonstrate the application of pre-
Localized with 0.55 0.527 0.281 0.679 0.399 sented dimensionless numbers in order to compare the
standoff experimental and empirical analysis results of dimen-
sionless deflection in six series of experiments, which

Figure 4. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by Nurick and Martin15,16 subjected to uniform impulsive loading (starred equations are suitable for a strain rate
insensitive material).

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8 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 0(0)

Figure 5. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by Nurick and Teeling-Smith23 subjected to uniform impulsive loading (starred equations are suitable for a strain
rate insensitive material).

Figure 6. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by Nurick and Lumpp26 subjected to uniform impulsive loading (starred equations are suitable for a strain rate
insensitive material).

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Babaei and Mostofi 9

Figure 7. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by Nurick et al.25 subjected to uniform impulsive loading (starred equations are suitable for a strain rate
insensitive material).

Figure 8. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by Bodner and Symonds22 subjected to uniform impulsive loading (starred equations are suitable for a strain
rate insensitive material).

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10
Figure 9. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by Thomas and Nurick24 subjected to uniform impulsive loading (starred equations are suitable for a strain rate
insensitive material).
have been performed by uniform impulsive loading.
Also, in these figures, the result of the empirical ana-
lysis is compared with the other theoretical and empir-
ical models which are summarized in Table 2.
The results of the empirical model in equation (24)
are in accordance with the experimental ones rather
than the other theoretical and empirical models. It is
obvious from Figures 4 to 9 that some empirical and
theoretical models that were reported by Lippmann8
and Nurick and Martin15,16 are desirable. Hence, at
larger dimensionless deflection, the mentioned models
demonstrate tendencies to highly underestimate or
overestimate the deflections. For example, in Figures
4, 5, 7, and 8 the Nurick and Martin’s prediction has a
good agreement with the experimental results in the
dimensionless deflection range of 4–8, 2–12, 2–16, 1–7,
respectively, but at greater dimensionless deflection,
this model underestimates the deflection. As shown
in Figures 4 to 9, some experimental data are not in
good agreement with values of the empirical model.
For inspection, Figure 10 has been drawn.
This figure shows that the mentioned experimental
data fall into  1 dimensionless deflection range from
line of equation (24) with confidence level of 91%.
The value of confidence level indicates that the results
obtained from the empirical analysis for uniform
impulsive loading are satisfactory.
It is noteworthy to mention that the actual strain
rate sensitive properties for different mild steels in
various experimental studies were not reported, as a
result, the material strain rate effects have been
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Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 0(0)
incorporated into the analysis using the Jones’s
experiments40 in Figure 3. The agreement between
the results of the suggested empirical models and the
various experimental studies indicates that the
method used in Figure 3 to cater for strain rate effects
in mild steel is a good procedure.
It is useful to mention that the empirical and the-
oretical models in Table 2 were derived for a rigid
perfectly plastic material, which means that they are
valid for a strain rate insensitive material. As a result,
the difference between these particular theories, which
lie above the experimental data, and the experimental
results, give a measure of the importance of strain rate
effects.
Similarly, Figures 11 and 12 show comparison
between the experimental and empirical analysis
results of dimensionless deflection for six series of
experiments, which have been performed by localized
impulsive loading with and without standoff.
The empirical analysis results for dimensionless
deflection versus dimensionless number and  are
demonstrated in these figures, which have been car-
ried out by localized impulsive loading without and
with standoff, respectively. Also, these figures prove
that the empirical models (equations (25) and (26)) are
in accordance with the experimental data. It should be
noted that equation (4) can only be used for the
experiments, which have been performed by localized
loading without standoff. So, equation (26) is the only
available empirical model that can be used for thin
circular plates subjected to localized loading using
Babaei and Mostofi 11

Figure 10. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by various researchers15,16,22–26 subjected to uniform impulsive loading.

Figure 11. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number for
experiments reported by various researchers22,27,28 subjected to localized impulsive loading.

standoff. As shown in Figures 11 and 12, almost all of
the experimental data fall into  1 dimensionless
deflection range from line of equations (25) and (26)
with confidence level of 83% and 93% for localized
loading without and with standoff, respectively. The
obtained value for confidence level proves that the
present empirical equations are satisfactory for loca-
lized impulsive loading.
Also, in Figure 13, the dimensionless deflection
versus dimensionless impulse number cl (equation (4))

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12 Proc IMechE Part L: J Materials: Design and Applications 0(0)

Figure 12. Comparison between empirical analysis and experimental dimensionless deflection vs dimensionless number  for
experiments reported by Jacob et al.29 subjected to localized impulsive loading.

Figure 13. Comparison between empirical model in equation (4) and experimental dimensionless deflection versus dimensionless
number cl for experiments reported by various researchers22,27,28 subjected to localized impulsive loading.

is shown. This figure shows that Nurick and Martin’s
model cannot be predicted as well as equation (25)
and the points fall into  1 dimensionless deflection
range from line of equation (4) with confidence level
of only 79%.
It should be mentioned that in this paper, the
Cowper–Symonds coefficients were considered as
functions of plate thickness based on Jones’s experi-
ments40 and investigation.39 However, in many stu-
dies, the midpoint deflection of mild steel plates

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Babaei and Mostofi 13

Table 5. RMSE of different models reported in Table 2.

Strain rate Cowper–Symonds

References Load type sensitivity coefficients RMSE

Empirical model (equation (35)) L1 Yes Constant 0.62

Empirical model (equation (26)) L1 Yes Variable 0.63
Empirical model (equation (34)) L2 Yes Constant 0.82
Empirical model (equation (25)) L2 Yes Variable 0.87
Babaei and Darvizeh17 L2 Yes Variable 0.96
Babaei and Darvizeh17 L2 Yes Constant 1.07
Nurick and Martin15,16 L2 No – 1.31
Empirical model (equation (33)) U Yes Constant 0.70
Empirical model (equation (24)) U Yes Variable 0.72
Babaei and Darvizeh17 U Yes Constant 0.85
Nurick and Martin15,16 U No – 1.12
Lippmann8 U No – 1.27
Babaei and Darvizeh17 U Yes Variable 1.42
Perrone and Bhadra35 U No – 2.15
Duffey12,13 U No – 4.64
Calladine34 U No – 5.30
Jones39 U Yes Variable 6.59
Soares10 U No – 6.81
Jones39 U No – 7.64
Symonds and Wierzbicki33 U No – 7.96
Jones39 U Yes Constant 8.50
Hudson32 U No – 11.52
Batra and Dubey7 U No – 16.24
Ghosh and Weber9 U No – 16.5
L1: localized with standoff; L2: localized without standoff; U: uniform; RMSE: root mean square error.

have been computed using the constant material

Conclusion
values in the Cowper–Symonds constitutive equation
(q ¼ 5 and D ¼ 40.4 s1).39 So, equations (24) to (26) In this paper, the empirical analysis based on dimen-
can be rewritten as equations (33) to (35) for analyz- sionless groups was suggested to study the dynamic
ing the problem when the Cowper–Symonds coeffi- plastic response of thin circular plates subjected to
cients are constant. impulsive loading. So, the various empirical models
were derived using the SVD method to predict the
W0
H ¼ 0:333l0:523 0:468 ðUniform loadingÞ ð33Þ dimensionless deflection of circular plates under uni-
form and localized loading with and without standoff
 0:03 in equations (24) to (26), respectively. To derive these
W0 0:503 0:954 R0
¼ 1:16l  equations, some input and output experimental data
H R ð34Þ
pairs were used, which were carried out by various
ðLocalized loading  without standoffÞ researchers in this field. Also, Jones’s dimensionless
 0:672  0:411 number was used to consider plate geometries, mater-
W0 R0 S ial properties, and impulse of applied load for differ-
¼ 0:554l0:524 0:278
H R R ð35Þ ent types of loading conditions in these models. The
ðLocalized loading  with standoffÞ dimensionless number ðÞ has been added to modeling
process in order to show potential effect of material
Now, for better comparison, the root mean square strain rate sensitivity of the plate materials on
deviation (RMSE) of the presented empirical models response of circular plates due to impulsive loads
in equations (24) to (26) and other studies are calcu- where the constant parameters in the Cowper–
lated in Table 5. Finally, it can be seen that the empir- Symonds constitutive equation were considered as a
ical equations of this study have much less RMSE function of plate thickness. Similarly, dimensionless
compared to other models which are reported parameters such as load ratio and standoff distance
in Table 2. were suggested to investigate the effect of changing

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14
mentioned parameters for localized loading without
and with standoff, respectively. Hence, the dimension-
less deflection of circular plates was dependent on
strain rate sensitivity and Jones’s dimensionless
number when subjected to uniform impulsive loading,
while two other dimensionless parameters—load ratio
and standoff distance—played a role in localized
loading.
In order to show the ability of presented models to
predict dimensionless deflection of circular plates,
empirical analysis results were compared with the
other theoretical and empirical studies, which were
reported in literature. The obtained results show
that the empirical analysis predictions of the pre-
sented models were in good agreement with the
experimental studies. Nevertheless, the novelty of
this paper is to present three simple closed-form equa-
tions for thin circular plates subjected to impulsive
loading with much less RMSE than the other avail-
able studies. So, it is intended that these empirical
models will be supplementary to available ones.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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