Modeling the domino wave propagation in contact mechanics

Abstract

Domino is a popular entertainment to enjoy the pleasing wave propagation in a row of solid pieces. This play game may be, however, a tough research subject of dynamic contact mechanics, because finite rotation, contact and friction are included in toy mechanics and these nonlinear effects are all of scientific interest. The major concern of this paper is to develop a computational model to study the domino wave propagation in a long straight row. More specifically, a total of N dominoes are modeled to rectangular rigid-body solids in shape of D (width) x H (height) x B (breadth). Equally spaced dominoes in a long straight row (L=492cm) are assumed to simply rotate around the front bottom edge. To trigger the wave propagation, the first domino is slowly inclined till its side diagonal slightly goes beyond the plumb line. The successive collision mechanism between individual toppling dominoes is investigated as a 2D problem in contact mechanics and we obtain an excellent agreement between the model prediction and experimental result. © 2012 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.