Finite-Element Analysis of the Collision and Bounce between a Golf Ball and Simplified Clubs (P271)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop a finite-element (FE) model which could accurately simulate the behaviour of golf impacts, and to investigate the effect of a shaft on the clubhead upon the rebound of a ball, by conducting FE analysis on a ball colliding with a simplified club. The clubs were constructed by holding simplified clubheads by a locking ring fitted onto a steel shaft. The clubheads were designed based on the mass, volume and position of the centre of gravity (CoG) of commercial clubheads, so as to enable a typical golf impact. Three circular, hollow, titanium alloy bodies of constant mass, with increasing loft angles, were manufactured. FE models with linear elasticity of the clubs, which consisted of the clubheads, a locking ring and a shaft, were constructed. The FE model of the ball consisted of 8-node solid elements, and the material model was expressed as a hyper-elastic/viscoelastic model. Impact experiments were also conducted for comparison to confirm the accuracy of the FE models. The results of the impact simulations closely matched the experimental results. Impact behaviour was analysed by varying the impact point of the ball colliding with the full clubs and the lone clubheads and then comparing the ball/club and ball/clubhead collision results. The differences between the two most extreme values for the rebound angle and spin rate tended to be smaller in the club impact cases than in the clubhead impact cases. This tendency was estimated to depend on the relationship between the shaft position and the loft angle/CoG of the clubhead.