Experimental and finite element study of the design parameters of an aluminum baseball bat

In 1974, the NCAA introduced metal bats into collegiate-level baseball as a cost-effective alternative to traditional wood bats. Manufacturers of bats can change very little in the case of wood bats other than the outside profile because the properties of the wood are at the mercy of Mother Nature. In contrast, innovative methods of manufacturing and new alloys enable the design of metal bats that can have a wide range of performance. Players, fans and scientists are concerned that high-performance metal bats might compromise the integrity of the game. In this context, the goal of the current research is to study the different factors that affect the performance of metal and wood bats, as it may be useful to understand what physical properties influence the differences in the performance between wood and metal bats.; For this research, a metal bat and a wood bat are used. The mass, center of gravity, moment of inertia, center of percussion, sweet spot, batted-ball speed, fundamental frequencies and node points on one wood and one metal bat are measured experimentally. Finite element models of these two bats are then built, compared to experimental data, and calibrated with the experimental values. A parametric study of these finite element models is then done to understand the effect of various physical properties on the performance of the bats.