2017/08/03 by Loïc Tadrist, Tadrist, Loic, Baptiste Darbois Texier +1
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #Mechanics and Biomechanics Studies #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #Sports Dynamics and Biomechanics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1708.01282
openalex publication_date 2017/08/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The behaviour of sports balls during impact defines some special features of each sport. The velocity of the game, the accuracy of passes or shots, the control of the ball direction after impact, the risks of injury, are all set by the impact mechanics of the ball. For inflated sports balls, those characteristics are finely tuned by the ball inner pressure. As a consequence, inflation pressures are regulated for sports played with inflated balls. Despite a good understanding of ball elasticity, the source of energy dissipation for inflated balls remains controversial. We first give a clear view of non-dissipative impact mechanics. Second we review, analyse and estimate the different sources of energy dissipation of the multi-physics phenomena that occur during the impact. Finally, we propose several experiments to decide between gas compression, shell visco-elastic dissipation, solid friction, sound emission or shell vibrations as the major source of energy dissipation.