A Contact Phase Model for the Analysis of Flexible Mechanisms under Impact Loading

An analytical study of flexible mechanisms subjected to impact loading is presented. A wave-propagation theory is incorporated into finite element analysis for the analytical modeling. This approach is based on interpreting the contact phase as an additional compatibility constraint to be satisfied during the contact interval. Instantaneous post-impact and post-release jump discontinuities of the motion are predicted by a local stress wave propagation method. An experiment employing an accelerometer as a sensing device was conducted to verify the analytical results. This study shows that the impact motion of flexible mechanisms can be modeled without obtaining the elastic restitution coefficients