Ballistic and numerical simulation of impacting goods on conveyor belt rubber

Impact loading is an important process in the transport industry as it causes wear and failure of critical components. Conveyor belts are of particular importance as they are used in practically every industry where large quantities of goods are moved over short (<10 m) or long distances (>1 km). To investigate stress levels inside the material during impact loading, a gas gun was utilized to shoot 9 mm spherical steel balls onto the surface of a rubber conveyor belt. A high speed video recording system was employed in order to determine penetration depth and dissipated energy of the steel ball. Maximal penetration depths of up to 3.9 mm and maximal dissipated energies of up to 86.8 % were measured. Additionally, a numerical simulation using smooth particle applied mechanics was conducted and compared to the experimental results obtained with the gas gun. The calculated von Mises stresses affected the conveyor belts up to a maximum depth of 8.8 mm with at least 20 MPa. Maximum von Mises stresses were calculated to reach 60 MPa.