Hi all,

I am trying to simulate a sphere falling onto a rectangular sample of rubber surface. The sphere will be at a specific height and accelerate due to gravity onto the fixed rubber surface. I am looking to simulate the deformation of the rubber surface as it is impacted by the sphere and see how well the rubber absorbs the PE.

So far I have modelled up two cubes (one to fall on top of the other) just to see if i could simulate the motion whilst not having to worry about meshing problems. However I can’t seem to simulate this accurately.

I have used drop tests and non-linear tests for this and have found the following issues:

Drop test

- Can’t fix the rubber to make it stationary whilst making the sphere fall at a height. The two parts fall at the same time.

- It seems like you can only make a custom object impact a rigid surface, and not a custom made part

Non-linear test

- I can make an object impact onto another object, but it doesn’t seem like it can simulate gravity, only the displacement of one object into another.

I am going to continue to play around with it, but I just wanted to raise the question. Has anyone had any experience with a similar simulation? Is this sort of test possible on SolidWorks at all?

Thanks,