Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the strain rate effect on the problem of low-velocity impact (LVI) on a beam, including silicon nitride and stainless steel materials. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the nonlinear Hertz impact mechanism, the energies related to the impactor and the beam are written, and motion equations are derived using the Lagrangian mechanics and Ritz method. The strain rate term is represented as a damping matrix in the equations of motion. In the issue of LVI on the silicon nitride and stainless steel beam, the effect of internal viscous damping coefficient in simply–simply and clamped–free boundary conditions are studied. Also, the influence of the volume fraction index in the range between zero and one and greater than one on the impact response is investigated. Findings – The results make it clear that the strain rate parameter had little effect on the response in LVI. Also, an increase in the volume fraction index has led to a decrease in the contact force and an increase in the rebound velocity of the impactor. Originality/value – The effect of strain rate on LVI is theoretically studied in this paper, while in most of the papers, this effect is investigated experimentally and numerically.
