Viscoelastic modelling of tennis ball properties

Abstract

An explicit finite element (FE) tennis ball model which illustrates the effects of the viscoelastic materials of a tennis ball on ball deformation and bounce during normal impacts is presented. A tennis ball is composed of a rubber core and a fabric cover comprised of a wool-nylon mix which exhibit non-linear strain rate properties during high velocity impacts. The rubber core model was developed and validated using low strain rate tensile tests on rubber samples as well as high velocity normal impacts of pressurised cores at velocities ranging from 15 m/s to 50 m/s. The impacts were recorded using a high speed video (HSV) camera to determine deformation, impact time and coefficient of restitution (COR). The material properties of the core model were tuned to match the HSV results. A two component anisotropic fabric model was created which included artificial Rayleigh damping to account for hysteresis effects, and the core model 'tuning' process was used to refine the cloth layer. The ball model's parameters were in good agreement with experimental data at all velocities for both cores and complete balls, and a time sequenced comparison of HSV ball motion and FE model confirmed the validity of the model.