TP B.

22
How peak tip contact force and contact patch size
vary with shot speed, and drop tests
supporting:
“The Illustrated Principles of Pool and Billiards”
http://billiards.colostate.edu
by Dr. Dave Alciatore, PhD, PE ("Dr. Dave")

originally posted: 5/19/2018 last revision: 5/19/2018

Mass of a pool ball and typical cue stick:

mb ≔ 6 ⋅ ms ≔ 19 ⋅

Typical tip-ball contact times for phenolic and leather tips with fast-speed shots, from the DBKcue link here:
http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/cue_tip.html#contact

Δtphenolic ≔ 0.0008 ⋅ Δtleather ≔ 0.0012 ⋅

Typical coefficients of restitution (CORs) for a phenolic tip on a break cue and a typical leather tip on
playing cue, from: http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads/cue_tip.html#efficiency

ephenolic ≔ 0.85 eleather ≔ 0.73

Typical contact patch sizes for a fast-speed shot with phenolic and leather tips:

vfast ≔ 10 ⋅ cpsphenolic ≔ 3 ⋅ cpsleather ≔ 4 ⋅

From TP B.20, the peak force between the cue tip and CB during impact, for a given CB speed vb and tip
contact time Δt is:
2 ⋅ mb ⋅ vb
Fpeak ⎛⎝vb , Δt⎞⎠ ≔ ―――
Δt

Hertz elastic contact-stress equations (e.g., from "Impact Mechanics" by Strong, pp.117-118, 2004) can be
used to approximate how contact patch size (cps) varies with peak force ( ) according to:
1
―
3 1
⎛3 F⋅E⎞ ―
3
cps ＝ ⎜――― ⎟ ＝c ⋅ F
⎝ R ⎠

where depends on tip and CB material properties, depends on the radii of curvature of the tip and CB,
and is the resulting constant.

Therefore, the approximate contact patch size can be related to CB speed and tip contact time according to:
1
―
3
⎛ 2 ⋅ mb ⋅ vb ⎞
cps ⎛⎝vb , Δt , c⎞⎠ ≔ c ⋅ ⎜―――⎟
⎝ Δt ⎠
 And the Hertz constant can be related to contact patch size according to:
1
―
3
⎛ Δt ⎞
c ⎛⎝vb , Δt , cps⎞⎠ ≔ cps ⋅ ⎜―――⎟
⎝ 2 ⋅ mb ⋅ vb ⎠

We can approximate the Hertz equation constant for both phenolic and leather tips using the data above:

cphenolic ≔ c ⎛⎝vfast , Δtphenolic , cpsphenolic⎞⎠ = 0.242 ――

1
―
3

cleather ≔ c ⎛⎝vfast , Δtleather , cpsleather⎞⎠ = 0.37 ――

1
―
3

As a check to make sure these values are correct, we can see if the cps equation predicts the correct
contact patch sizes:
cps ⎛⎝vfast , Δtphenolic , cphenolic⎞⎠ = 3

cps ⎛⎝vfast , Δtleather , cleather⎞⎠ = 4

Now we can look at how both peak contact force (in pounds) and contact patch size (in mm) vary with
shot speed for both phenolic and leather tips:

vb ≔ 1 ⋅ ,2 ⋅ ‥ 30

Fpeak ⎛⎝vb , Δtphenolic⎞⎠ (( ))

Fpeak ⎛⎝vb , Δtleather⎞⎠ (( ))

1.35⋅10³

1.2⋅10³

1.05⋅10³

900

750

600

450

300

150

0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31

vb (( ))

As expected, the peak contact force increases with CB speed, and is greater for a phenolic tip as
compared to a leather tip. With a powerful break (25 mph), the peak forces on both phenolic and
leather tips are:

Fpeak ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , Δtphenolic⎞⎠ = 1068 Fpeak ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , Δtphenolic⎞⎠ = 4753

Fpeak ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , Δtleather⎞⎠ = 712 Fpeak ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , Δtleather⎞⎠ = 3168
 cps ⎛⎝vb , Δtphenolic , cphenolic⎞⎠ (( ))

cps ⎛⎝vb , Δtleather , cleather⎞⎠ (( ))

5.85

5.4

4.95

4.5

4.05

3.6

3.15

2.7

2.25

1.8

1.35

1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31
vb (( ))

As expected, the contact patch size increases with CB speed, and is larger for a leather
tip as compared to a phenolic tip. With a powerful break (25 mph), the contact patch
sizes for phenolic and leather tips are approximated to be:

cps ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , Δtphenolic , cphenolic⎞⎠ = 4.1

cps ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , Δtleather , cleather⎞⎠ = 5.4

 One way to simulate cue-tip-CB impact is to drop a cue from different heights onto a heavy/solid/
hard/flat/smooth surface (e.g., a big steel block). From conservation of energy, the cue speed
after falling height is:
v ＝ ‾‾‾‾‾
2⋅g⋅h
From impulse-mementum principles, if we want the impulse (and peak force) with a drop test to
match the impulse (and peak force) of a CB hit, we can relate drop height ( ) to CB speed ( vb )
and drop rebound COR ( ) with:

mb ⋅ vb ＝ ms ⋅ ((v + e ⋅ v)) ＝ ms ⋅ ‾‾‾‾‾

2 ⋅ g ⋅ h ((1 + e))
Solving for h gives us the required drop height to simulate different CB speeds:
2
1 ⎛ mb ⋅ vb ⎞
h ⎛⎝vb , e⎞⎠ ≔ ―― ⎜―――― ⎟
2 ⎝ ms ⋅ ((1 + e)) ⎠

Here's a plot of how required drop height varies with simulated CB speed for both phenolic and leather tips:

h ⎛⎝vb , ephenolic⎞⎠ (( ))

h ⎛⎝vb , eleather⎞⎠ (( ))

1.1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31

vb (( ))

As expected, a larger drop height is required to simulate faster CB speeds, and the drop height
for a leather tip needs to be a little higher compared to a phenolic tip. With a powerful break
(25 mph), the required drop heights for both phenolic and leather tips are approximately:

h ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , ephenolic⎞⎠ = 0.61 h ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , ephenolic⎞⎠ = 18.6

h ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , eleather⎞⎠ = 0.7 h ⎛⎝25 ⋅ , eleather⎞⎠ = 21.2