Understanding the Dynamic Behaviour of a Tennis Racket under Play Conditions

Banwell, Guy; Roberts, Jonathan R.; Halkon, Ben J.; Rothberg, Steve; Mohr, Stephan

doi:10.1007/s11340-013-9803-9

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…As expected, it was observed that the vibrational waves in a tennis racket were more rapidly damped when held than when freely suspended (Brody, 1987(Brody, , 1989Hatze, 1976;Hennig, Rosenbaum, & Milani, 1992). Interestingly, it has also been shown that the tighter the grip force, the faster the vibrations will be dampen (Savage, 2006), and that holding a racket induces modal frequency shifts toward lower frequencies with respect to the freely suspended boundary condition (Banwell, Roberts, Halkon, Rothberg, & Mohr, 2014). Although grip force is expected to be highly player-dependent, no investigation has demonstrated how grip force modulation would affect the dynamic behaviour of the racket as a function of its mechanical characteristics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

The effects of player grip on the dynamic behaviour of a tennis racket

Chadefaux

Rao

Carrou

et al. 2016

Journal of Sports Sciences

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The aim of this article is to characterise the extent to which the dynamic behaviour of a tennis racket is dependent on its mechanical characteristics and the modulation of the player's grip force. This problem is addressed through steps involving both experiment and modelling. The first step was a free boundary condition modal analysis on five commercial rackets. Operational modal analyses were carried out under "slight", "medium" and "strong" grip force conditions. Modal frequencies and damping factors were then obtained using a high-resolution method. Results indicated that the dynamic behaviour of a racket is not only determined by its mechanical characteristics, but is also highly dependent on the player's grip force. Depending on the grip force intensity, the first two bending modes and the first torsional mode frequencies respectively decreased and increased while damping factors increased. The second step considered the design of a phenomenological hand-gripped racket model. This model is fruitful in that it easily predicts the potential variations in a racket's dynamic behaviour according to the player's grip force. These results provide a new perspective on the player/racket interaction optimisation by revealing how grip force can drive racket dynamic behaviour, and hence underlining the necessity of taking the player into account in the racket design process.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

The effects of player grip on the dynamic behaviour of a tennis racket

Chadefaux

Rao

Carrou

et al. 2016

Journal of Sports Sciences

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“…Analysing how the presence of the player's hand affects the dynamic behaviour of the tennis racket, Brody (1987Brody ( , 1989 pointed out an increase in the temporal decay rate relative to the freely suspended conditions. Based on spectral investigations, Banwell et al (2014) also identified frequency deviations and damping factor changes up to 1500 Hz. Concerning analyses under actual playing conditions, Hennig et al (1992) indicated that less experienced players seem to generate slightly more frequency deviation in the first bending mode than expert players.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This result is of primary importance since a correlation between the frequency of the racket's first bending mode, estimated under freely suspended conditions, and the amount of vibration transferred to the forearm following a ball impact has been pointed out (Hennig, 2007;Hennig, Rosenbaum, & Milani, 1992). It follows that stroke-induced vibrations are not determined entirely by the mechanical properties of the racket, but rather that racket vibrations are also dependent on the playing velocity (Rogowski et al, 2015) and the attributes of the player's grip (Banwell, Roberts, Halkon, Rothberg, & Mohr, 2014;Kawazoe & Yoshinari, 2010). This hypothesis is supported by the fact that, despite comparable grip forces, the magnitude of vibration transferred into the hands of skilled tennis players is significantly less than that of recreational players (Hennig, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Active tuning of stroke-induced vibrations by tennis players

Chadefaux

Rao

Androuet³

et al. 2016

Journal of Sports Sciences

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This paper investigates how tennis players control stroke-induced vibration. Its aim is to characterise how a tennis player deals with entering vibration waves or how he/she has the ability to finely adjust them. A specific experimental procedure was designed, based on simultaneously collecting sets of kinematic, vibration and electromyographic data during forehand strokes using various commercial rackets and stroke intensities. Using 14 expert players, a wide range of excitations at spectral and temporal levels were investigated. Energetic and spectral descriptors of stroke-induced vibration occurring at the racket handle and at the player's wrist and elbow were computed. Results indicated that vibrational characteristics are strongly governed by grip force and to a lower extent by the racket properties. Grip force management drives the amount of energy, as well as its distribution, into the forearm. Furthermore, hand-grip can be assimilated to an adaptive filter which can significantly modify the spectral parameters propagating into the player's upper limb. A significant outcome is that these spectral characteristics are as much dependent on the player as on the racket. This contribution opens up new perspectives in equipment manufacture by underlining the need to account for player/racket interaction in the design process.

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“…Figures 1a&b show mode shapes for the second string modes of a tennis racket [24]. These mode shapes demonstrate clearly one of LDV's main advantages -the ability to measure from very light structures, in this case the strings.…”

Section: Scanning Laser Doppler Vibrometry (Sldv) and Experimental Momentioning

confidence: 90%

An international review of laser Doppler vibrometry: Making light work of vibration measurement

Rothberg

Allen

Castellini

et al. 2017

Optics and Lasers in Engineering

339

153

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In 1964, just a few years after the invention of the laser, a fluid velocity measurement based on the frequency shift of scattered light was made and the laser Doppler technique was born. This comprehensive review paper charts advances in the development and applications of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) since those first pioneering experiments. Consideration is first given to the challenges that continue to be posed by laser speckle. Scanning LDV is introduced and its significant influence in the field of experimental modal analysis described. Applications in structural health

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Understanding the Dynamic Behaviour of a Tennis Racket under Play Conditions

Cited by 18 publications

References 19 publications

The effects of player grip on the dynamic behaviour of a tennis racket

The effects of player grip on the dynamic behaviour of a tennis racket

Active tuning of stroke-induced vibrations by tennis players

An international review of laser Doppler vibrometry: Making light work of vibration measurement

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