Design of experiment and pitfalls of low-velocity pendulum impact testing

This article studies many of the geometric and dynamic aspects of low-velocity impact testing for obtaining material parameters. Predictive analytical models are developed for a sphere and pendulum impact of a spring-spring beam, while a numerical model of a pendulum impact with a spring-spring beam with overhangs is developed for comparison. The dynamic nature of collecting impact loads elicited interest in the validation of inverse analysis procedures for data correction. Using the measured loads and the corrected loads as forcing functions, certain assumptions about modes of vibrations and data correction or filtering were validated. Wood beam specimens were selected for the experiments to validate the analytical models and because there was a lack of experimental data for dynamic material properties of wood.