Numerical simulation of the dynamics of an impacting bar

We calculate numerically the motion of a slender bar dropped on a rigid foundation. For the computation the bar is discretized by a system of rigid bodies linked by spiral springs or by a pair of linear springs. We assume that the impact is frictionless and we model it by Newton’s law. We compute the motion by using either an event-driven method based on the detection of impacts or a time-stepping scheme avoiding the detection of impacts. We calculate also the apparent restitution coefficient and we compare our results with the experimental and numerical results of Stoianovici and Hurmuzlu.