Vibrational assessment of wood, composite, and plastic hurleys

Abstract

The Gaelic sport of hurling combines elements of field and ice hockey, lacrosse, and even baseball. The hurling stick, or hurley, has a long narrow handle which tapers to a large flat paddle, or bas, and is primarily made from white ash. Sticks show variation in the thickness, size, and shape of the paddle and composite hurleys have recently been introduced to the game. In this paper, we use experimental modal analysis to study the vibrational mode shapes and frequencies of several ash and composite hurleys, in adult and youth sizes, including the infamous 1970's Wavin plastic hurley which was quickly abandoned due to excessive vibration and sting. Bending and torsional mode shapes are found to be similar to those in baseball bats and field hockey sticks. A third family of vibrational modes exhibiting bending in the handle and torsion in the paddle are similar to vibrational modes observed in ice and field hockey sticks. These three types of mode shapes help define the sweet spot as well as influencing the perception of feel in the hands of a player.