Nonlinear impact model of a tennis racket and a ball

Abstract

A nonlinear impact model of a ball impacting on a tennis racket was developed to investigate the impact characteristics of this collision. The impact model included a tennis ball, the tennis racket frame and string bed in a tennis racket. The governing equations for the impact model were derived and were solved by applying numerical analysis. Extensive parametric studies were conducted to study the effects of the system parameters including ball dynamic stiffness, ball damping ratio, racket head size, string tension, string axial rigidity, etc. The analysis results showed that although head size and string axial rigidity have negligible effects on the dwell time and velocity ratio of the ball, string tension can have a significant effect on the dwell time and velocity ratio of the ball.