Date of Award

Spring 2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Mechanical Engineering

Committee Director

Sebastian Bawab

Committee Member

Gene J. Hou

Committee Member

Han Bao

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56 K365 2009

Abstract

An explicit finite-element (FE) model of a tennis racket and string was produced in NASTRAN/PATRAN. MSC/NASTRAN is a general-purpose FEA program capable of solving a wide variety of engineering problems such as linear static analysis, static analysis with geometric and material with nonlinearities, transient analysis with geometric and material nonlinearities. A finite element racket model was used to study the engineering characteristics that affect the "sweet spot" of a te1mis racket. A similar model was simulated by creating a tennis racket, a tennis ball and a string-bed, and it was validated against MADYMO (Mathematical Dynamic Model) data.

The MADYMO validation was undertaken by studying ball impacts at different spots on the tennis racket as well as for different string materials. The purpose of this research is to analyze the dynamic and static properties of a tennis racket and strings of a tennis racket. The dynamic characteristics of a tennis racket may be quantified using different modeling methods ranging from rigid-body models, flexible beam models, finite element (FE) models and modal models.

This thesis compares two models of a tennis racket. The first one is a finite element model of a tennis racket created in PATRAN. It is analyzed for modal analysis. In the second racket model, which was created in MADYMO, a number of impact locations were simulated and the sweet spot was found. The MADYMO model was found to be an efficient means for quantifying the effect of material and geometric variations on racket dynamic characteristics. With the experimental, numerical and theoretical techniques presented in this thesis, the aim of providing an informed choice for alternative racket designs was achieved. However, the strings were assumed to be fixed at their intercepts, effectively ignoring the effect of string to string friction. This is clearly not a realistic representation of reality, and subsequent errors would become apparent if simulating an oblique impact.

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DOI

10.25777/ca57-ab73

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