Study on Mechanical Characteristics of String Planes of Badminton Racquets by Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis

Abstract

In this study, the nonlinear finite element analysis code to evaluate the performance of the string planes of badminton racquets was performed. Nonlinear stress-strain relationships of mechanical characteristics of commercially available polymer strings were obtained by uniaxial loading tests. Effects of strain rate on the mechanical characteristics were also investigated to consider the dynamic effect on the numerical simulation. The numerical simulation code to analysis string planes of badminton racquets was developed originally. The formulation of the nonlinear finite element analysis code was described in this paper. The simulation code was able to calculate displacements of string planes in out-of-plane and in-plane direction. The formula of the numerical simulation code was derived from shape of strings plane and were not affected by deformation of racquet frames. The hyperelastic model was applied to the nonlinear stress-strain relationships of strings. The models of the string planes were created from the shape of the commercially available badminton racquet frame. The result was compared with the result of analyzing the linear model. From the result, effect of the mechanical characteristics of polymer strings and geometrical shape of badminton racquets on the out-of-plane stiffnesses of the string planes were investigated.