ABSTRACT
Solid mechanics investigators gave the dynamics of bodies in impact special interest
long time ago. Many approaches were developed to solve this problem since F.
Neumann (1885). Reviewing these various approaches revealed that the impact body
usually regarded as a system possessing one degree of freedom and the aim is to seek
the configuration of maximum compression when the body starts to achieve
instantaneous equilibrium. This paper is aimed to model the impacted body as a system
possessing multi degrees of freedom by using the finite element method. The normal
and oblique impacts are discussed taking into consideration the neighborhood area of
the instantaneous impact point is smooth or rough. The effect of the number of elastic
modes of vibration on the impact response is considered.