New Technique for Impact Calibration of Wide-Range Triaxial Force Transducer Using Hopkinson Bar

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

A novel impact calibration method specifically for the triaxial force transducer with a wide range and high-frequency response is proposed in this work. The mathematical formulation is correct.  The experimental procedure has been clearly described in this paper. The conclusions are supported by the experimental results.

This paper is well written, and it can be accepted with minor revision.

The comments for this paper are given below:

In table 2, the symbol of Poisson ratio σ is better changed to ν. σ  has been defined as the stress on the bar end face in this paper (Equation 15).

The number of mesh in the FEM model could be specified in Section 4.2.

In the introduction:

·       “several key issues involving the validity and the test range of the method were investigated and discussed using a numerical method” is recommended to  change to “several key issues involving the validity and the test range of the method were investigated and discussed using finite element method”

 ·       “the triaxial force transducer need to be calibrated before it can be put into service”  

 “need” should be changed to “needs”.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

The study developed an impact calibration method for wide range and high-frequency triaxial force transducers with the aid of Hopkinson bar. The validity of the calibration method was confirmed using a numerical analysis. In general, this topic is interesting and the manuscript is well written. I recommended it to be published in Sensors after addresing the following concerns.

1.        Title: The word “technique” was used twice in the title. Please delete the second “technique”.  

2.      Section 2.2: Figure 1 shows a typical structure of triaxial force transducer. Is there any other triaxial force transducer structure? The author should discuss if the proposed calibration method is still applicable for other types of triaxial force transducer.

3.    It should be aware that the force applied to the adapter may not be equal to the force transmitted to the sensor’s sensing element.

4.     In Section 3.2: It is suggested to add a two-dimensional drawing of the shaper in Figure 5.

5.        The author should discuss whether the stress distribution on the contact surface of the bar and the adapter is uniform.

6.        Section 4.2.2: The effect of the bullet geometry on the waveform of the reference force is discussed. What about the bullet materials?

7.        The manuscript should be carefully edited to avoid grammar mistakes.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf