Shape Optimization of a Wooden Baseball Bat Using Parametric Modeling and Genetic Algorithms

Abstract

Baseball is a popular and very lucrative bat-and-ball sport that uses a wooden bat to score runs. We hypothesize that new design features for baseball bats will emerge from their shape optimization using parametric modeling and genetic algorithms. We converge the location of two points on bats made from maple (Acer sp.) and ash (Fraxinus sp.) wood that are associated with increased velocity of a ball rebounding off a bat: vibrational nodal points and the center of percussion (COP). Our modeling and optimization approach was able to reduce the distance between the nodal points and COP from 166.0 mm to 52.1 mm. This change was similar in both wood species and resulted from changes to the geometry of the bat, specifically shifting of the mass of the bat toward the center of the barrel and removing mass from the very end of the barrel. We conclude that the combination of parametric finite element modeling and optimization using genetic algorithms is a powerful tool for exploring virtual designs for baseball bats that are based on performance criteria and suggest that our designs could be realized in practice using subtractive manufacturing technology.

Finite Element Modelling of the Effect of Adhesive Z-Connections on the Swelling of a Laminated Wood Composite

“…One-eighth of the wood composite was modelled using finite element analysis because of the presence of three symmetrical planes, as arrowed in Figure 2. The use of symmetrical planes can significantly reduce the number of elements needed, thereby reducing computational time [47][48][49][50][51][52]. The definition of the coordinate system used in the finite element model is shown in Figure 2.…”