Evaluation of the dynamic properties of quasi-brittle materials is of the utmostimportance for assessing the vulnerability of structural components under dynamic loadingssuch as collision or explosion. To investigate the dynamic strength of (quasi)-brittlematerial, three-point bending tests are performed on a modified Split Hopkinson PressureBar. Such an apparatus is often used with pre-cracked specimen to determine the dynamicstress intensity factor of metallic materials. With quasi-brittle materials special carehas to be paid to the processing of the test since fracture can occur at very low strains.The specimen remains in an out-of equilibrium state and fracture occurs before the supportreactions appear as if it was a support-free impact test. A special non-equilibriumanalytical approach has been developed to process the tests. Finite-element simulationsare used to assess relevance of the proposed analysis for normalized short beams.Experimental results on brick and concrete samples showing a significant dynamic strengthincrease are presented.
