Universal Journal of Mechanical Engineering 9(1): 1-9, 2021 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/ujme.2021.090101 Dynamic Tensile Response of Caprine Muscles Using Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar Somnath H. Kadhane * , Hemant N. Warhatkar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. B. A. Technological University, Lonere-Raigad, 402103, Maharashtra State, India Received March 6, 2020; Revised June 22, 2020; Accepted July 1, 2020 Cite This Paper in the following Citation Styles (a): [1] Somnath H. Kadhane, Hemant N. Warhatkar , "Dynamic Tensile Response of Caprine Muscles Using Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar," Universal Journal of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 1 - 9, 2021. DOI: 10.13189/ujme.2021.090101. (b): Somnath H. Kadhane, Hemant N. Warhatkar (2021). Dynamic Tensile Response of Caprine Muscles Using Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. Universal Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 9(1), 1 - 9. DOI: 10.13189/ujme.2021.090101. Copyright©2021 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract Computer modeling and numerical simulation has become an efficient diagnostic tool to predict the human body injuries caused due to high speed automotive impacts, blast and ballistic impacts. Soft tissues such as muscles and skin in human body are exposed to varying strain rates under dynamic loadings during impacts. The prediction of impact-induced injuries requires a thorough understanding of mechanical behaviour of soft tissues for computational modeling of human body. In the present study, uniaxial tensile tests were conducted on caprine lower extremity muscles in the strain rate range of (500s -1 -3500s -1 ) using custom-made split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) apparatus. The challenges in the dynamic testing of soft tissues such as measurement of weak transmitted signals, use of viscoelastic pressure bars, tensile loading of specimen and generation of constant strain rate were addressed in dynamic tensile testing of soft tissues using polymeric SHPB. The attenuation and dispersion in waves are corrected using isolated incident bar tests. The stress-strain results were determined from the reconstructed waves for the tests conducted on lower extremity caprine muscles. The muscle specimens were tested along and perpendicular to the fiber direction to study the directional dependency of tissue behaviour. The stress-strain response was found to be non-linear and significant dependant on strain rate when tested along and perpendicular to fiber direction at same strain rates. It is also observed that at the same strain rate, the specimen stress of caprine muscle along the perpendicular fiber direction is higher than that along the fiber direction. The obtained results may further be used to develop finite element human body models and safety systems for human body in high rate scenario. Keywords Tensile Loading, SHPB, Strain Rate, Impact, Tissue Behaviour, Caprine Muscle 1. Introduction Higher strain rates occur not only in automobile impacts, but also in airplane accidents, impact or bird-strike events, sport accidents, industrial accidents, slip and falls, explosive blast, ballistic and bullet impacts. A high strain rate response of muscle tissue is essential for computer modeling of soft tissue in research and application activities of impact biomechanics. The mechanical response of soft biological tissues at different strain rates is also essential in high speed automotive impacts and crash analysis to develop human body models and to design body armors for effective understanding of the injury mechanisms. Lower extremity muscles of human body are subjected to compressive impact during pedestrian-vehicle impacts. The muscle constitutes are compressed in the direction transverse to the fiber orientation and slide over each other, while the muscle constitutes are stretched in the direction parallel to the fiber orientation. Since muscles are formed of fiber bundles, the tensile behavior will be different than the compressive behavior. The available quantitative data on the mechanical response of biological soft tissues is mostly limited to