SolidWorks Tip: Projectile Motion of Ball

[BA SW]

Originally Posted by Ether

Can you add a force that varies with the direction and magnitude of the ball velocity?

Yes. There are different forces you can add in the simulation, including equation driven forces where the forces vary according to time for example. You would probably want an equation driven function for the forces in your example.

I tried to keep the video simple so I used an easy step function for the force. If you have data, you can even import data of these forces and run the simulation to see how the drag data you collected influences the ball.

The types of forces that you can use in this simulation are:
- Constant
- Step (choose how much force at a specified moment in time and how long this force lasts)
- Harmonic (oscillations of forces)
- Segments (how much force to apply over what range)
- Data points (with data you collect)
- Expression (an equation that varies the force on the object as a function of time)

I also want to point out that in the video, I went with the default: Action only force, and you can pick action & reaction instead.

Originally Posted by Ether

Air drag (and possibly backspin/topspin for some shooters) can have a nontrivial effect on the flight path

backspin/topspin are harder to simulate. The Pumkin Chunkin competition could also be a good place to look for more accurate SolidWorks simulations.