Success Story
Implementing CAE into the Design
Process for Composite Tennis Racquets
at Wilson Sporting Goods
Background
Key Highlights
Industry
Sporting Goods
Challenge
To reduce design cycle time and enhance
product value by taking advantage of
simulation, automation, and optimization
technologies in the development of tennis
racquet designs.
Altair Solution
Composites Finite Element Analysis using
OptiStruct, Altair ProductDesign
Benefits
• Great correlation of simulation results
with physical tests (within 4%)
• Innovative application of composite
design with CAE
• Streamline the development process
for future products
Wilson Sporting Goods Co. is one of
the world's leading manufacturers of
high performance sports equipment,
apparel and accessories. Creating,
designing and producing sports equipment
for more than a century for athletes who
play Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Basketball,
Football, Soccer, Volleyball, Softball and
more, Wilson has helped continually
evolve how sports are played and
enjoyed by millions.
In the world of sports, the competition is
fierce, and the relationship between an athlete
and their equipment is a powerful one: it can
be the defining difference and provide the
winning advantage over an opponent. With
that dynamic association in mind, Wilson
Labs, the innovation hub at Wilson, invents,
designs and engineers game-changing
products, employing state-of-the-art sports
technologies and expertise. In its Racquet
Sports business, Wilson Lab’s innovation
initiatives include material enhancements,
mechanical enhancements, and changes
to physical parameters of the racquet to fit
evolving trends of the player’s game.
Exploring Composite Finite
Element Analysis
Wilson Labs design engineers have
explored developments in Finite Element
Analysis (FEA) for laminated composites,
in particular for methods that can be
applied to their composite tennis racquet
lines. They were interested in reducing
design cycle time and enhancing product
value by taking advantage of simulation,
automation, and optimization technologies
in the development of tennis racquets.
At the same time, Wilson Labs engineers were
Keywords: Wilson Labs, Wilson Sporting Goods, OptiStruct, Altair ProductDesign
Wilson Sporting Goods
"I worked with Altair Product Design for roughly one year attempting
to correlate a composite lay-up finite element model of a tennis
racquet, built in HyperWorks, to its real world counterpart. I was very
impressed with Altair’s knowledge, hard work, quick response,
and attention to detail. At the conclusion of the study, we were
able to predict and verify within 4% error at least four important
performance characteristics of the tennis racquet. We believe
this will give us an advantage of speed to market in future
product designs"
Bob Kapheim
Design Engineer
Wilson Labs
interested in accomplishing something unique
or organic looking in terms of geometry.
Until now, FEA for composites has been
almost non-existent in the racquet industry.
However, recognizing its benefit as a better
tool for lay-up design as well as optimization
for weight, strength, stiffness and simplicity,
Wilson has taken on a leading role in
employing this technology in the industry.
Modeling of Tennis Racquets
in a Virtual Environment
While exploring developments in FEA,
Wilson Labs Design Engineer Bob
Kapheim became familiar with Altair’s
HyperWorks® and Altair ProductDesign.
He learned that Altair ProductDesign
would perform software simulation and
test correlation for Wilson without them
having to first invest in the software.
HyperMesh Composite racquet mesh
While composites simulation technology
was relatively new and advanced for the
Wilson Labs racquet team and the sporting
goods industry in general, Altair has worked
extensively on composites simulation
methods within industries such as aerospace
that have been routinely employing the
technology. With this mature offering and
experience base, it was fairly simple for Altair
to adapt the technology to the composites
Simulation of static test, displacement contour
simulation of tennis racquets. “To my
knowledge, we’ve never made as much
progress as we have working with Altair.
We knew Altair would be a good partner for
us because they were able to demonstrate
exactly how their software would work for
an engineer – that was significant for us.
And they worked with us to show how their
product could tackle what we are looking
to do.” said Mr. Kapheim.
The initial part of the work was done with
a finite element model build based on the
provided geometry representing the Outer
Mold Line (OML) of the racquet that was
undrilled, ungripped and without a handle.
Modeling of the laminate was kept at a
simplified level. For each ply, the lay-up
document was reviewed to understand the
ply location, and then surfaces were trimmed
and organized. Ply thicknesses were assigned,
as were material properties. Loads and
boundary conditions were also applied.
Several analyses were performed using
Altair’s structural analysis and optimization
software OptiStruct® and results were
validated to correlate with physical test data.
Simulation of dynamic test, first natural frequency
Altair’s engineers successfully modeled
today’s tennis racquet in a virtual environment.
Testing and analyses demonstrated the
close correlation between a virtual model’s
behaviors and real life behaviors.
The project inspired a high degree of
confidence that HyperWorks brings the
accuracy required to model the tennis
racquets in a virtual space, and that
virtual simulation as a resource is far
more efficient than manual techniques.
tennis racquet, built in HyperWorks, to its
real world counterpart. I was very impressed
with Altair’s knowledge, hard work, quick
response, and attention to detail. At the
conclusion of the study, we were able to
predict and verify within 4% error, at least
four important performance characteristics
of the tennis racquet. We believe this will give
us an advantage of speed to market in future
product designs” concluded Mr. Kapheim.
Meeting the Metrics
For all the performance metrics expected by
the Wilson Labs racquet team (mass, center
of mass, dynamic stiffness, static stiffness)
the results showed an error percentage of
less than 4%. The mass showed an error
within 3%, center of mass in 2%, frequency
being the dynamic stiffness was in 1% error,
and the static stiffness was in 4% error,
demonstrating results that were far better
than expected up front.
“I worked with Altair Product Design for
roughly one year attempting to correlate a
composite lay-up finite element model of a
Wilson static test fixture for similar racquet
About Altair
Altair is focused on the development and broad application of
simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes
and decisions for improved business performance. Privately held with
more than 2,600 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan,
USA and operates more than 45 offices throughout 24 countries.
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Success Stories
Today, Altair serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad
industry segments. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.
at www.altairhyperworks.com
About HyperWorks®
Performance Simulation Technology
HyperWorks is an enterprise simulation solution for rapid design
exploration and decision-making. As one of the most comprehensive,
open-architecture CAE solutions in the industry, HyperWorks includes
best-in-class modeling, analysis, visualization and data management
solutions for linear, nonlinear, structural optimization, fluid-structure
interaction, and multi-body dynamics applications.
www.altairhyperworks.com
Altair Engineering, Inc., World Headquarters: 1820 E. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, MI 48083-2031 USA
Phone: +1.248.614.2400 • Fax: +1.248.614.2411 • www.altair.com • [email protected]
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