The effect of free water content upon the compressive mechanical behaviour of cement mortar under high loading rate was studied. The uniaxial rapid compressive loading testing of a total of 30 specimens, nominally 37 mm in diameter and 18.5 mm in height, with five different saturations (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, respectively) were executed in this paper. The technique 'Split Hopkinson pressure bar' (SHPB) was used. The impact velocity was 10 m/s with the corresponding strain rate as 10 2 /s. Water-cement ratio of 0.5 was used. The compressive behaviour of the materials was measured in terms of the maximum stress, Young's modulus, critical strain at maximum stress and ultimate strain at failure. The data obtained from test indicates that the similarity exists in the shape of strain-stress curves of cement mortars with different water content, the upward section of the stress-strain curve shows bilinear characteristics, while the descending stage (softening state) is almost linear. The dynamic compressive strength of cement mortar increased with the decreasing of water content, the dynamic compressive strength of the saturated specimens was 23% lower than that of the totally dry specimens. With an increase in water content, the Young's modulus first increases and then decreases, the Young's modulus of the saturated specimens was 23% lower than that of the totally dry specimens. No significant changes occurred in the critical and ultimate strain value as the water content is changed.Keywords. Cement mortar; free water content; dynamic compressive mechanical behaviour; split Hopkinson pressure bar.

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