How Finite Element Analysis can help Improve Your Batting Average
When I played baseball as a kid, I remember hearing my coaches yell: “Hey Webb—don’t crowd the plate, keep your eye on the ball and keep your bat level when you swing.” I think their hope was, that if I didn’t strike out, I would at least hit a line drive or a ground ball and not hit a pop-up for an easy out.
Even though by then, Ted Williams had published his book, The Science of Hitting, my coaches mainly relied on experience and observation of how the ball reacted when a batter hit the ball from certain angles.
A 95 mile per hour fastball only takes .44 seconds to reach home plate and the batter must decide to swing within .22 seconds of the pitch
Over the years, the swing of a baseball bat has become one of the most studied actions in sports. You can understand why, when considering that a 95 mile per hour fastball only takes .44 seconds to reach home plate and the batter must decide to swing within .22 seconds of the pitch – the actual hitting of a major league fastball defies logic. And when the final hit wins the game with a walk-off – it is a magical moment for the winning team and their fans!
Today, coaches and players are using technology such as slow motion video, motion sensors and computer-aided simulation to gain deeper insights into how ball speed and angles affect a batters stance and swing with the goal of improving their batting averages.
Finite element analysis software, such as Abaqus from the SIMULIA brand of Dassault Systèmes, is being used to study baseball bat swing and contact dynamics.
At the 2016 Science in the Age of Experience Conference, students and professors from the Illinois Institute of Technology presented two papers on their research related to this hot topic.
Their paper, “Baseball Bat Swing Analysis Using Finite Element Methods” builds on previous undergraduate research done on the analysis of a baseball bunt, whose findings were presented in a second paper, “Evaluation of Baseball Bats on Impact with a Baseball during a Bunt Hit”.
Their study shows that, through the use of realistic simulation technology,it is possible to determine the optimal position and swing pattern to hit a ball during a bat swing on an approaching ball.
With this type of realistic simulation, guidance can be provided to players on the optimal swing pattern to apply for different approaching ball launches.
So, while you watch this year’s World Series™ take a break during the commercials to contemplate how realistic simulation can be used to analyze and improve the magic of hitting!
