Reinforced with steel-cord rubber conveyor belt (SCB), i.e. a unidirectional composite material (CM) with some of the fundamental mechanical properties values of its reinforcement and matrix differing by a factor of ten thousand, is a key infrastructure component of overland minerals transportation industry. Critically, to date no investigative work has been performed on the mechanical behaviour of SCBs subjected to the extreme dynamic-loading conditions of tropical cyclones, hurricanes, and tornados. Determination of a full suite of elastic characteristics of the belt will enable the study of the mechanical behaviour of SCB subjected to these natural hazardous wind events. We investigate tensile and shear moduli of a commercial SCB with the use of modified standard practices and innovative approaches, including tensile testing and methods of torsion of long straight bar and of square plate. We propose a novel design of mechanical tensometer which allows tensile testing of significantly shorter test specimens as compared with the test specimen dimensions per current standards. Analytically, tensile modulus is determined using the rule of mixtures and shear moduli are calculated based on the variational principles. We find that the tensile modulus of SCB can be determined analytically with high confidence. However, analytically derived in-plane shear moduli values can only be considered as a first approximation and need to be verified experimentally. The results of our work improve understanding of stress-strain state and thus can help predict the mechanical behavior of the SCBs under the irregular and extreme dynamic loading conditions of natural hazardous wind events.

中文翻译：

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钢丝绳橡胶输送带的弹性性能

用钢丝帘线橡胶输送带 (SCB) 加固，即一种单向复合材料 (CM)，其增强材料和基体的一些基本机械性能值相差一万倍，是陆上矿物运输的关键基础设施组件行业。至关重要的是，迄今为止，尚未对 SCB 在热带气旋、飓风和龙卷风等极端动态载荷条件下的机械行为进行调查。确定皮带的全套弹性特性将有助于研究 SCB 在这些自然危险风事件下的机械性能。我们使用修改后的标准实践和创新方法研究了商业 SCB 的拉伸和剪切模量，包括长直杆和方板的拉伸试验和扭转方法。我们提出了一种新颖的机械张力计设计，与当前标准的试样尺寸相比，它允许对更短的试样进行拉伸测试。分析上，拉伸模量是使用混合物规则确定的，剪切模量是基于变分原理计算的。我们发现 SCB 的拉伸模量可以高可信度地通过分析确定。然而，分析得出的面内剪切模量值只能被视为第一近似值，需要通过实验进行验证。