Multiphysics simulations of inelastic collisions with Energy2D

Figure 1. Mechano-thermal simulation of inelastic collision.

Many existing simulations of inelastic collisions show the changes of speeds and energy of the colliding objects without showing what happens to the lost energy, which is often converted into thermal energy that spreads out through heat transfer. With the new multiphysics modeling capabilities, the Energy2D software can show the complete picture of energy transfer from the mechanical form to the thermal form in a single simulation.

Figure 2. Thermal marks left by collisions.

Figure 1 shows the collisions of three identical balls (mass = 10 kg, speed = 1 m/s) with three fixed objects that have different elasticities (0, 0.5, and 1). The results show that, in the case of the completely inelastic collision, all the kinetic energy of the ball (5 J) is converted into thermal energy of the rectangular hit object (at this point, the particles in Energy2D do not hold thermal energy, but this will be changed in a future version), whereas in the case of completely elastic collision, the ball B1 does not lose any kinetic energy to the hit object. In the cases of inelastic collisions, you can see the thermal marks created by the collisions. The thermometers placed in the objects also register a rise of temperatures. This view resembles infrared images of floors taken immediately after being hit by tennis balls.

Figure 3. Collisions in Energy2D.

Energy2D supports particle collisions with all the 2D shapes that it provides: rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and blobs. Figure 2 shows the thermal marks on two blobs created by a few bouncing particles. And Figure 3 shows another simulation of collision dynamics with a lot of particles bouncing off complex shapes (boy, it took me quite a while in this July 4 weekend to hunt down most of the bugs in the collision code).

The multiphysics functionality of Energy2D is an exciting new feature as it allows more realistic modeling of natural phenomena. Even in science classrooms, realism of simulations is not just something that is nice to have. If computer simulations are to rival real experiments, it must produce not only the expected effects but also the unexpected side effects. Capable of achieving just that, a multiphysics simulation can create a deep and wide learning space just like real experiments. For engineering design, this depth and breadth are not options -- there is no open-endedness without this depth and breadth and there is no engineering without open-endedness.