A Modeling of Impact Dynamics and its Application to Impact Force Prediction

In this paper, the contact force between two colliding bodies is modeled by using Hertz's force-displacement law and nonlinear damping function. In order to verify the appropriateness of the proposed contact force model, the drop type impact test is carried out for different impact velocities and different materials of the impacting body, such as rubber, plastic and steel. In the drop type impact experiment, six photo interrupters in series close to the collision location are installed to measure the velocity before impact more accurately. The characteristics of contact force model are investigated through experiments. The parameters of the contact force model are estimated using the optimization technique. Finally the estimated parameters are used to predict the impact force between two colliding bodies in opening action of the magnetic contactor, a kind of switch mechanism for switching electric circuits.