Title: Baseball Bat Profile Durability Scoring Criteria Development through LS-DYNA Finite Element Modeling
Researchers: Joshua Fortin-Smith, James Sherwood, Patrick Drane, Dave Kretschmann
Sponsors: Major League Baseball Players Association
Collaborators: US Forest Products Lab
Description: Baseball bat failure during gameplay is a concern to players and spectators during Major League Baseball games. Since 2008 steps have been taken to reduce the frequency of multi-piece bat failures but it is believed that by regulating the bat profiles allowed for use by hitters further reduction of the rate of these failures seen from the current level may be achieved. Through the use of LS-DYNA finite element modeling software, various parametric bat modeling studies have been conducted to determine the factors making up a durable bat profile. Those factors are then combined to develop a scoring criteria to predict relative on field bat durability of any profile used in a major league baseball game.